Leinster Hookers in 2019

[mildlyinterested]

I'd sign Shane Delahunt if he was interested.

I had assumed a NIQ signing. That would be different.

As it would hold back Kelleher and hurt Connacht, I'd be happy enough not to make that move anyway.

Don't care about Connacht and if Kelleher is as good as hoped then Delahunt won't matter.

But it's unlikely Delahunt would be interested in returning to Leinster. Another case of what if, when it comes to hooker in leinster.

[ronk]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

[mildlyinterested]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Delahunt is an ex leinster underage Captain. if they take our players, well are allowed to try take them back.

I frankly don't care what Munster say they are relying on leinstermen and saffer s to be competitive.

[artaneboy]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Lads, it’s all ‘legitimate’. What would be serviced by us refusing to sign a promising player from another province because we are still sore at Carbery? Nothing except our wounded sense of grievance here.

Those the rules and the practice now. We need to get over- and get on with it. But, while I’d welcome Delahunt, I would not pursue him as the answer to our hooker needs.


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[mildlyinterested]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Lads, it’s all ‘legitimate’. What would be serviced by us refusing to sign a promising player from another province because we are still sore at Carbery? Nothing except our wounded sense of grievance here.

Those the rules and the practice now. We need to get over- and get on with it. But, while I’d welcome Delahunt, I would not pursue him as the answer to our hooker needs.


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Given a NIQ is unlikely what would you do?

[Ruckedtobits]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Lads, it’s all ‘legitimate’. What would be serviced by us refusing to sign a promising player from another province because we are still sore at Carbery? Nothing except our wounded sense of grievance here.

Those the rules and the practice now. We need to get over- and get on with it. But, while I’d welcome Delahunt, I would not pursue him as the answer to our hooker needs.


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Totally agree and would certainly make that offer in preference to approaching an NIQ.

[artaneboy]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Lads, it’s all ‘legitimate’. What would be serviced by us refusing to sign a promising player from another province because we are still sore at Carbery? Nothing except our wounded sense of grievance here.

Those the rules and the practice now. We need to get over- and get on with it. But, while I’d welcome Delahunt, I would not pursue him as the answer to our hooker needs.


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Given a NIQ is unlikely what would you do?

Why would an NIQ be unlikely? JGP will be Ireland/ Kolpak qualified this this year. We might even lose Fardy. So there’s room there.


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[Serb]

Why would an NIQ be unlikely? JGP will be Ireland/ Kolpak qualified this this year. We might even lose Fardy. So there’s room there.

Probably unlikely from the perspective of hooker depth in Ireland. Once Best retires after the World Cup, we’re left with Scannell, Cronin and Herring, none of which are top tier talent.

Marshall qualifies soon (or maybe has already qualified? Can’t remember), which is a bonus, but I’d say the IRFU would be very keen that all possible IQ hooker options are explored over the next few years.

[ronk]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Lads, it’s all ‘legitimate’. What would be serviced by us refusing to sign a promising player from another province because we are still sore at Carbery? Nothing except our wounded sense of grievance here.

Those the rules and the practice now. We need to get over- and get on with it. But, while I’d welcome Delahunt, I would not pursue him as the answer to our hooker needs.


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It's not open season yet & we have the most to lose from provincial player movement. Already there has been public suggestions that we should lose one of Doris and Deegan. And Penny was one of the others.

We didn't want Delahunt. He was starting for Connacht at 20. They deserve some credit. Preserving the careers of guys who didn't make our academy is not poaching.

We have 3 senior hookers and a promising academy one who may debut in a few weeks. Where would Delahunt fit in? Is the benefit we would gain worth the cost to Connacht to lose him. He's the 2nd choice Connacht hooker. Our 2nd choice hooker has Ireland caps.

We could weaken the Leinster squad by signing him (we might not).

The IRFU will not sanction signing a NIQ hooker to put Cronin on the bench. He's front runner to be starting Irish hooker this time next year.

[leinster23]

Grabbing Delahunt, especially after Kelleher moving, would do a lot to legitimize Munster’s poaching stance.

We gain in one place but risk bigger loss elsewhere.

Lads, it’s all ‘legitimate’. What would be serviced by us refusing to sign a promising player from another province because we are still sore at Carbery? Nothing except our wounded sense of grievance here.

Those the rules and the practice now. We need to get over- and get on with it. But, while I’d welcome Delahunt, I would not pursue him as the answer to our hooker needs.


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It's not open season yet & we have the most to lose from provincial player movement. Already there has been public suggestions that we should lose one of Doris and Deegan. And Penny was one of the others.

We didn't want Delahunt. He was starting for Connacht at 20. They deserve some credit. Preserving the careers of guys who didn't make our academy is not poaching.

We have 3 senior hookers and a promising academy one who may debut in a few weeks. Where would Delahunt fit in? Is the benefit we would gain worth the cost to Connacht to lose him. He's the 2nd choice Connacht hooker. Our 2nd choice hooker has Ireland caps.

We could weaken the Leinster squad by signing him (we might not).

The IRFU will not sanction signing a NIQ hooker to put Cronin on the bench. He's front runner to be starting Irish hooker this time next year.

He'll be the starting hooker by this time next week if I was picking the team.

[Gearzbox2]

Cronin is playing rugby of his career so I find it strange why there’s such a focus on replacing him, can’t see why they’d sign a NIQ to displace him potentially with all things considered
Much more likely to sign an Irish option to bolster the position behind him with future building
Have they faith in Tracy???, maybe
Have they faith in Brian Bryne, doesn’t look like it really

Is Delahunt good enough to displace Cronin, I don’t think so but he’s imo potentially stronger than our other options so it’s an interesting one going forward

[mildlyinterested]

might this be the week we see Ronan Kelleher make his leinster debut?

[Serb]

I don’t think there’s any rush to replace Cronin, but we are well behind on succession planning and Cronin ain’t getting any younger.

[ronk]

I don’t think there’s any rush to replace Cronin, but we are well behind on succession planning and Cronin ain’t getting any younger.

We have 2 hookers with a perfect age profile below him (1 capped) and a possible star in the academy.

85 and 36 caps. That's decent succession planning. Not everyone gets the jersey ripped off them when they are at the peak of their career.

[mildlyinterested]

I don’t think there’s any rush to replace Cronin, but we are well behind on succession planning and Cronin ain’t getting any younger.

We have 2 hookers with a perfect age profile below him (1 capped) and a possible star in the academy.

85 and 36 caps. That's decent succession planning. Not everyone gets the jersey ripped off them when they are at the peak of their career.

Very few people view Tracy/Byrne as replacements for Cronin and most people seem to think neither are good enough to be backup hooker for leinster.

[mildlyinterested]

Tracking young hookers playing AIL:

Clontarf
Declan Adamson(U20/Clontarf RFC) - regular starter

Lansdowne
Ronan Kelleher(U21/St. Michaels) - regular starter

UCD
Bobby Sheehan(U19/Clongowes) - regular starter
Sean Molony(U20/Blackrock)

DUFC
Dan Sheehan(u21/Clongowes) - regular starter

Old Belvedere
John McKee(U19/Campbell) - regular starter
Ethan Baxter(U19/St. Gerards)

[Oldschool]

I don’t think there’s any rush to replace Cronin, but we are well behind on succession planning and Cronin ain’t getting any younger.

We have 2 hookers with a perfect age profile below him (1 capped) and a possible star in the academy.

85 and 36 caps. That's decent succession planning. Not everyone gets the jersey ripped off them when they are at the peak of their career.

Very few people view Tracy/Byrne as replacements for Cronin and most people seem to think neither are good enough to be backup hooker for leinster.

They both have issues but they're not muck either.
Backup for Leinster is reasonable.
We're no better/worse off than the other provinces.
Ulster are going to lose Best shortly, Munster have been hit and miss with injuries.
Connacht, surprisingly have the best stock of Hookers.
At least we won't be raided by any of the other provinces.

[Serb]

We have 2 hookers with a perfect age profile below him (1 capped) and a possible star in the academy.

85 and 36 caps. That's decent succession planning. Not everyone gets the jersey ripped off them when they are at the peak of their career.

Neither age nor caps are the metric that we measure succession planning by. It’s quality and quality alone, and neither Tracy nor Byrne have proven that they have the quality to succeed Cronin as the first choice hooker when he retires.

Sure Tracy won’t be that far off his own retirement by the time Cronin is done.

[wixfjord]

Sure Tracy won’t be that far off his own retirement by the time Cronin is done.

Well, 5 years if they both retire around the same age...

[Jonny tight lips]

Hopefully we see a young new hooker on the team sheet tomorrow good enough to light this thread up but not so good he gets shipped off to Munster.