It's not about denying Hook credit, its more about putting it into perspective how much he actually deserves, bringing in a rookie during the rep season or it gets to the stage injuries force you to make those decisions out of necessity rather then initiative, two very different things.
Then tell the full story.
Oates was born out of initiative and Kahu would have been too but his progression was always going to be a delicate process as he was recovering from two knee reconstructions. He was given an opportunity to state his case in the pre-season trials and it was clear that he needed more time on the field before he was ready for his NRL debut.
Actually it does when the results are related more to the players attitude and character then the actual move, Hoffman sucked it up and went out and did his job, when he was immediately moved back to fullback it was pretty obvious the difference between Hoffman willing to do what he needs to do for the side then Norman who's ego is more important then anything else.
Even so, Hook did the right thing by Hoffman in the end by putting him in a position that benefitted not only him but the team in general. None of us know what he did behind the scenes to help develop Hoffman as a winger but he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Griffin has shown an unwillingness to back Hunt as a starting halfback or 5/8th for any great period until recent times despite giving Norman and Wallace far too much time and neither developed the results but still remained for too long how has this paid off for the Broncos by doing so when both will be gone when Hunt could have been given that shot earlier?
Norman/Wallace helped get us off to a fantastic start last year and were continuously improving until the Origin period stuck. Following Origin Brisbane suffered an unfortunate injury toll which rendered us short in the backs. Despite Wallace deserving to be dropped, we simply didn't have the cattle to make that move.
Hunt was then given an opportunity to stake his claim in the pre-season. He didn't and it was clear that Prince/Wallace was the best combination and needed time to gel. When it became apparent that wasn't happening, Hook opted to make changes, even going with Prince/Hunt but then the Origin period hit once again and it was clear that Hunt was going to struggle in that period.
He's since been given an opportunity as half and he's beginning to show why Hook was so hesistant to go with him.
The consensus was prior to the season he was the right man for the job, as it went on it became obvious he wasn't putting 100% in, just biding his time till the season was over and going to the Eels and still he remained yet alternatives existed, people were very much calling for his axing well before the SOO period. Alternatives were presented, even Hodges was suggested at fullback.
It was still around when we won three in a row and wasn't until the Eels games when things changed.
The problem was, people wanted Hodges to replace him. Two fold problem here. Hodges last stint at fullback resulted him in doing a hammy and he was on Origin duty. What about Kahu? Again, JK was constantly suffering injuries. To make out that Hook persisted with these guys like he had much of a choice isn't accurate at all.
