If you think of a hooker you always think of a player who doesn’t take a step back for anyone, who works as an extra flanker and pops up all over the place to make a nuisance of himself. Hookers that have really stood out from the rest in recent times have been Malcolm Marx, Dane Coles, Rory Best and Schalk Britz.
Hookers in the past mainly focused on throwing the ball into the lineout, hooking the ball in the scrums and getting into trouble wherever they saw an opportunity. The modern-day hooker has however evolved into an athlete that performs a number of crucial tasks for their team.
In the same way that an 8th man covers some of the work for the rest of the team, so too does a hooker, especially in being 4th loose forward.
Attributes of a hooker
If you are not a fan of taking on absolutely anyone not wearing your team jersey, you are probably not cut out to be a hooker. They never shy away from any situation and often lead the charge on the field.
The most important areas that a hooker needs to focus on is:
- the ability to throw in straight at the lineout with the focus on the right height and depth. It needs to be accurate in the front, middle and back of the lineout
- be able to hook the ball effectively in the scrum
- be good over the ball
- put in a high volume of tackles
- be a solid ball carrier
How a hooker is used at different age levels
Young hookers at the primary school level will need to focus on all of the areas mentioned above. The only exception is that they will not need to be able to through into the back of the lineout.
Apart from hooking and throwing into the lineout, the rest of the skills are all related to general play. They need to get comfortable with the role of being a hard worker who helps out in whatever area the team needs them.
As players get into their teens the focus would only shift slightly as they need to develop the ability to throw at the back of the lineout.
Accuracy when throwing in also becomes a lot more crucial than in their primary school years. Opposition lineouts will try their best to counter your lineouts and if you don’t execute pinpoint throws, the opposition would be able to poach it.