Okay I'll ask the unaskable. Should Hull be fined for resting half their first choice team? (Puts tin hat on!)

Bit of a silly question tbf. I know some people might view it as disrespecting the competition, but it's a squad game. We didn't throw the game, we selected a reasonable side and gave it a good go. Who knows what the result might have been had a couple of the 50/50 calls gone Hull's way?

No. It happens most seasons.

Last year was the anomaly as Hull KR actually rested their team at Wembley.

No. The RFL pocket enough money for themselves, don't need another excuse to give them more.

I expected some would say it's a squad game but the first excuse when a team loses is that they had xxx many first choice players missing. This isn't a pop at Hull but if they had not rested seven players I think they would have won. Had that happened Castleford might have had a slim chance of making the top four if they had won at Saints next week. Resting half a team seems morally wrong to me and disrespectful of the competition. In the past clubs have been fined for doing so.

I know some will say the players have a long season etc. and Challenge Cup finals are draining etc. but players do nothing else but play Rugby. Back in the day they used to play 40 league games plus Yorkshire/Lancashire Cup, Challenge Cup, county games and top 16 playoff and still do a full time job.

Yes I know the games a lot different now.

No, why should they? every team has a squad for a reason.

No, it was one of the toughest energy sapping finals last week for a very long time, some players needed to be rested. If they had an easy 50-0 cup final win like last year, Hull would have rested only 1 or 2 players.

I'd contest that we would have won with a full strength team based on the performances of the guys who were backing up. Watts and Manu aside there were some very flat performances. Shaul had a pretty wretched game tbh.

I do see your point about integrity of the competition, but we're at the sharp end of the season now and you've got to be a bit selfish sometimes. There's also a question about player welfare. We aren't privy to what's going on behind the scenes. How do we know what state the players are in physically or mentally? Just because they aren't injured it doesn't mean they are necessarily right to play. We've just had our biggest win pretty much in living memory 6 days ago, and most of the squad were still out celebrating in Monday night.

The timing of the Challenge Cup needs a serious reconsideration. With the exception of last year when HKR rested players for the final, it is a fair assumption that the finalists will have critical play off games before and after the final. This without doubt affects the integrity of the competition and possibly the shape of the top four.

It will be interesting to see how Wire perform today.

The Challenge Cup final needs moving to the end of the regular season IMO, we should have been talking about a 1st vs 4th crucial game last night, not how fatigued are Hull and how long will they last. I doubt Warrington will be doing much at Catalan tonight either so thats another 'dud' game for the TV.

no dont be daft!

why we have a team squad of around 25-30 players not 17!

even with a weaker team last night it still took saints 70 minutes to kill us off

castleford should'nt have had to rely on hulls' result last night, its their fault they never made the four, nobody elses'

No one seemed to complain when Hull rested players the week before the final.

Managing the squad over the season is a significant part of a mangers role

The key question is Did Hull resting players help Wigan. Answer. NO


Did hull resting players disadvantage Wigan. Yes.

Therefore the answer to the question is NO hull should not be fined .

Can't see any why the CC final can't be brought forward to the month of July allowing more recovery time for the finalists before the Super 8's begin. I think we have about 5 to 6 weeks between the quarter final and semi final, in that amount of time its easy for the comp to lose momentum and neutral interest.
We know the BBC control the schedule, perhaps the RFL should send the comp out to tender on there own terms and give ITV the rights to bid for the event.

The op was being deliberately provocative with the question but, the answer is clearly no and to be fair to Hull, they are chasing the treble so, they have to manage their squad in the right way and after winning the Challenge Cup, I seriously doubt that they are too bothered about the Saints result.

They made it clear with the 19 man squad they selected so no issue for me. The only problem would be if they named their strongest possible 19 man squad and then turned up on match day with a load missing.

Luck shining on Saints again though. 3rd season in a row they've faced the Cup winners the week after Wembley and got a much needed win.

They only rested a few players who may well have had knocks from previous weeks. What a nonsence thread.

If we are going to move the CC again we need to get it back to may, perhaps the last weekend bank holiday after all the football is done.

regards OP, no they shouldn't be fined.

Why does it have to be on a bank holiday weekend? Just put it on a normal Saturday around June or July, travel and hotels would be cheaper. Magic however should be moved to a bank holiday weekend.

They play the play off finals that weekend so wembley wouldnt be free.

Surely if a player is being paid by a club it doesn`t matter which one the coach names to play?

You can't put the Cup Final to the end of the season. The end of the season has to be the Grand Final. The closer you put the 2 finals the more they affect each other. I'd move it to around early/mid June and have a double header for the semi finals.

June would be ideal but i think BBC like a clear schedule during June/July for Wimbledon, Major football tournaments, Athletics and the like.

Would make sense though.

If you view the Challenge Cup and the the League as two separate competitions I can see the argument for separating the finals.

I prefer to view it as part of the season's competition and to win the "Double" is the mark of a great team because it is an achievement.