Saints will win
Wigan will win

This is it - win we're 3rd

Lose - out and worse than last years meltdown


Cas have Nothing to play for and a few injuries

Surely we can do it on Friday

AP wants the GF and it's our time I'm sure

lose and worse than last years meltdown? so its worse hows that? we lost to leeds a few days after Wembley then got beat by wigan after playing with 12 men most of the match and we beat a decent wakey team, wouldn't call that a meltdown sorry, our problem was losing at home to cats leigh etc, whatever happens on fri this imo is a really good time to follow hull fc,

I don't remember a meltdown last year, I was pretty happy with how the season went.

This year, we have been better in the super 8's, the issue was we were a bit disappointing in the regular seasons and that will be reason we if we don't qualify for the top 4. We have a lot more injuries and suspensions this year, which has played a part in how the season has gone, certainly compared to last year.

Even if this does happy, although a bit disappointing, we have still won a major trophy are competing at the right end of the table.

In a morbid kind of way, if we are to drop out, then I want it to be on points difference. This would be a wake up call to some players that no matter how badly we are playing, we cannot 'give up' in any game as those blow outs against Leeds, Salford and Huddersfield have really done us now. Saying that though, if we beat Leigh at home we would be in the 4 already

i'm not saying any game can be fixed but Cas do hold a lot of aces here. they have the chance to send us packing by putting a strong team out and going for the win. however given wigan's history of coming good for the final, they might want to send them out of the comp if we were to beat a weakened/rested Cas team. if you were a Cas fan who would you prefer to be eliminated, a hull team who has beaten them twice already, or a wigan team with the experience who could be a big danger in a big final? might all depend on who they percieve to be the biggest threat

Saints are the surprise for me, they have almost sneaked in under the radar after looking out of it after round 2 of the 8s

BTW i'm not at all convinced wigan will beat wakey, i have seen the Cas tries from yesterday and their defence was all over the place

Wakey will beat Wigan, Salford will beat Saints and we'll lose to Cas and it'll be an all Yorkshire play off series

Cas will field their strongest team, we've beaten them twice this year and ran them close at their place. I'm sure they'd prefer Wigan / Saints in there than us.

It's a cup final for us.

It's a cup qaurter final and our recent record against cas in cup quarter finals is pretty good.

Problem is, if Saints win on Thursday and end Wakey's hopes, will Wakey bother to turn up against Wigan?

We always knew we would have to beat Cas. Wigan will beat Wakey.
Saints have been given a few byes, really lucky the way the fixtures have fallen for them again. Theyre guaranteed top 4 now. 2nd faves for the GF with some bookies now.
They even blew the chance of beating Wigan at home straight after the cup final and they got us at home straight after the cup final last year!

Did you forget Saints have beaten Cas twice this season?
Out of the three I dont think Cas would want us in the semi

Whether Cas go through the motions against us and rest a few or put out a strong side we have to win regardless. If I were involved at Cas I'd much rather Hull FC got 3rd place and play Leeds.

If our season is ended this weekend then its the losses at home to Leeds, Salford, Leigh and Catalan and you can add the draw at Warrington in the league that will have cost us.

They got us (Leeds) the game after Wembley in both 2014 & 2015 also

The way Cas are playing I'm not sure they'll be overly fussed who they play.

Personally I think Hull finish either 3rd or 5th and thus won't be heading to Cas in the playoffs.

Saints will win on Thursday and that'll be Wakey finished which will increase the likelihood of Wigan winning also.

Tbf Mosher, we will put our strongest team out.
Daryl Powell knows no other way.

As for preference, I personally don't have one.
Saints are the only team who as best us at home.

Every game is different, different conditions, different players, different mind set.

So it doesn't matter one iota what's gone before, it's on the day.
At the minute we are heading in the right direction conserning mind set.
Beating Wigan on there own patch was a massive boost to our confidence. Especially with no recognised halfs.

So as long as it's a great game and plenty of hull fans make the trip, let the best team win.

powell has rested key players in games this season hasn't he? Didn't he do it against saints earlier in the year

One thing is for sure - if we play like we did against wakey our season will likely be over Friday night

yes i know that but if saints win on thursday Cas cannot influence their presence in the top 4

Any way, onto the game itself. we seemed to get a clean bill of health last Friday. Any news on Manu, i assume he will overcome last week's illness. What about Cas, how did they get on injury wise yesterday?

Whilst very unlikely, if Saints were to slip up and lose to Salford on Thursday night they'd be out and Hull would be guaranteed a playoff spot.

Would Hull then rest guys for Cas on Friday and risk dropping to 4th if they lost and Wigan won? Or you go strong and try win for 3rd place?

Try and get 3rd I think

Players will obviously be going into the leadup thinking they have to win, even if somehow hudds beat Saints beating Cas on their own patch would be a huge boost. in the same vein this is why Powell will want to go all out to beat us, why play differently to how you've done all season, you can't second guess injuries and you certainly can't play half hearted otherwise you run the risk of getting injured even more. Cas win and they continue on with confidence, lose and that introduces a few doubts, small as they might be, it certainly a negative at the part of the season you don't want.

I think the meldown comment is a bit over the top this season (last year we really did bomb at the back end) but how we performed against Hudds before wembley really encapsulated how poor we've been at times, you look at the Cas home game, the cup 1/4 and semi final and those performances are so incredibly far apart it is massively frustrating.

We did incredibly well against Wigan and sneaked it against Wakey, to pull off a win to ensure top 4 is going to be a big big ask, can we do it, yes, we have the firepower and hopefully the desire and mindset. Will we do it, really depends which Hull team turn up, most of all we just need to keep our discipline, play to our strengths both in attack and defence and not start playing panic rugby when under pressure which usually compounds itself with errors and giveaway tries. That 2nd half try against Wigan was because we tried to force the game at a ridiculous point in the match, that eventually cost us the game.
Should be absolutely rocking in the stands and hopefully a nice tight clean contest with us on top by even a point will do.

Salford, not Huddersfield, play St. Helens.

We've been pretty gash in the league for most of the year so if we miss out we only have ourselves to blame. Despite all the talk coming out of the club about peaking at the right time, we find ourselves have to win against the best team in the league to be certain of a play off place and I've seen no real evidence we're peaking at all.

Does anyone think we look like a GF winning team? I hope I'm wrong but can see us 5th at the end of the comp

Difficult to disagree with that.

The hope I'm left with though is that the players seem to relish the pressure games, and somehow go up 3 or 4 gears for knockout rugby, which Fridays game is for us now.

No I don't, much as I'd like to. We've been far too inconsistent all year.

That said I think we'll get the right results this weekend to secure 4th and then go back to Cas next week. Then anything can happen