Hooker is one of the positions in rugby league football. Usually wearing jersey number 9, the hooker is one of the team's forwards. During scrums the hooker plays in the front row, and the position's name comes from their historic role of 'hooking' or 'raking' the ball back with the foot. For this reason the hooker is sometimes referred to as the rake.
Hookers have a great deal of contact with the ball, as they usually play the role of acting halfback or dummy half, picking the ball up from the play-the-ball that follows a tackle. Hookers therefore have a lot of responsibility in that they...