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I reckon it's just cosmetic - I think it's the game variables like speed, etc that influence that, along with whether they are a "tackle breaker" or "crash baller". But I could be wrong, I don't know much about the inner workings of the game.

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I think it probably has less to do with the hooker throwing than with the locks competing (assuming they match up short/medium/long of course).

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I haven't noticed it myself, I rarely sub. Then again, I also noticed that any custom players created will ALWAYS have lower stamina than the default players.