Who's the signing then ?

Ellis from Leigh.

Thought he might have meant someone different as its well known about ellis

Did you really just claim that McKinnon is better than Sam Tomkins ???

Which is what he said here:


Not sure why he was being slightly cryptic though.

Moa's or Ogres extension

Being kept on hold so we can break a good news story should the worst happen sunday

Wouldn't be surprised at all

Got to say ICECREAMMAN you are very positive about everything Hull FC no matter what!

I suppose that is refreshing if not a little blinkered at times!!

yep icecreamman is always positive, always gives me a lift to read his reports,unlike sum on here where i feel like jumping of the humber bridge

like i said

I just try to see things without the knee jerk lets sack everyone attitude some have , but thanks for the support mate.. Being a head coach is possibly the hardest job in Rugby because as we see on here daily every move is scruitinised take for arguments sake
SL and Wade signings , does anyone honestly think that the injuries suffered have not been taken into consideration when signing them?? sometimes flyers have to be taken and intelligent gambles done but always in the best interests of the club and fans who pay... as for me I dont actually agree with some things that have gone past AND personel we have brought in and have voiced my opinion on those issues in my own way, however until I am made Head coach I have to believe that the club and head coach want what we all do and that is sucess, however success isnt instant and for once it is clear that FC are not knee jerking to win silverware but slowly building a quality squad for the future with a mix of youth and experience..
Its too easy to jam the club, players and coach , I just see it with a wider view than some of the heros on here i think

Thank you, like you i simply want the club to be sucessful, but not at any price!!
those who have watched carefully and removed the anti agar specs will of course have seen that the club have worked very carefully to build a top flight club here in Hull, slowly but surely removed all debt, placed the club in an enviable position as a buisness and now recently the squad has been looked at long term rather than the quick fix signings of the past and coach sackings for which we became famous...
rome wasnt built in a day .... i just dont go for wholesale slander of the club from KH down like some

The voices in his head haven't told him yet

Don't know a lot about McKinnon, but can't help but have slight concerns with his age and reported injury record combination. I just wish we'd occasionally bring in players from the NRL in their early- or mid-twenties, rather than the tail-end or thirties. Also, whilst I can see why others are concerned that he is being released early by a club again, that isn't exactly unusual for NRL clubs. Looking at it from a slightly different angle though, I do find it curious that they're willing to release him when they only signed him a year ago. A short stay like that isn't exactly confidence inspiring. Hopefully he'll come over and stay fit though.

We brought in Moa to be fair, he's only about 24 now isn't he? Hame and Phelps are hardly ready for their pensions too.

And we signed Mick Picker from Canberra but couldn't get a visa.

If you want the better players their a little bit older, the younger ones normally only come because they can't get a start.

Lauaki, fair play, I'll agree with. Berrigan is the other who is closest in the last few years. As good as Moa has turned out to be, he wasn't really an NRL player as such, which also goes for Picker. Phelps we got because he had no other offers really.

What I suppose I'm really saying is I wish we'd get a few more Soliola/Webb/Richards/King/Louis Anderson/Greenshields types that are already up to standard but we can possibly keep for a few years, rather than keep recruiting 2-3 years to retirement players. That way we can tinker with the team instead of continually having to search for replacements with less options for retention. Also, when we're bringing in players for the shorter-term, it only serves to increase the profile of any injury problems.

Who else has signed players from the NRL in their early or mid twenties, and I mean established first choice players rather than reserve grade?

But it's about balance though. Our overseas recruitment is very heavily leant towards older players. We've seen injury problems with several of them and a couple of instances of a rapid decline as they are ready for retirement. And whilst it's true that younger players often come over because they can't get a start in the NRL, it's also true that in many cases they don't look half bad over here.

I'd personally rather have a very good player for several of his prime years than a once-great player for the last 2 of his career. Or at the very least a mixture of the two.

There's the 6 in my other post, then also off the top of my head is: Donald, Delaney, Eastwood, Lauitiiti, Hoffman, Meli, Flannery, Monaghan, Lolesi, Faiumu, Witt.

I believe all came over before the age of 28 and with over 50 NRL appearances to their names, several closer to or even over 100. The top 4 do it on a semi-regular basis, I just think that if we want to be amongst them we need to try and do it more often too.

I think if we had a choice then of course we'd go for the younger options, especially Agar, but when we had our last major recruitment drive we had no leadership or experience in the squad, hence the need for Fitz and Ogre.

Since Agar took the job in 2008, overseas players we've signed (and arrived!) and their age when they signed in brackets :

Moa (21)
Lauaki (25)
Fitzgibbon (32)
O'Meley (2icon_cool.gif
Phelps (26)
Obst (30)

So all in all, 2 out of 6 in their 30s isn't too bad.

I suppose if we had a younger squad overall it wouldn't be bad at all (or maybe it's just that our older players seem to be in either similar or key positions), but you can also look at it as we have 7 overseas players and 4 of them are 29 or over, and 2 of those under look like leaving at the end of the season, combined with multiple 30-somethings from the British contingent. I just think to a certain extent we keep giving ourselves more work to do with recruitment with some relatively short-term signings.

Warrington have an older squad than us.

Quite a bit older. People tend to overlook it because they are doing well, but their squad is one built for the short term rather than the long term IMO.

This is working well for them, they build sucess short term win things, young players want to sign for then, other players in SL and the NRl want to sign for them.

Young player learn off older player, imagine a young FB or prop training with Hodgson and Morley.

As long as they are building up their youth players slowly (which they seem to be doing) then it's a good way to run things.

Be great in a couple of years to have

Crooks replacing Gleeson
Beavis> Mckinnon
Nicklas or Williams > Horne
Ellis > Long
Aldous > Radford
Cunngingham > Manu

etc.