To be built up by AP with promises of quality additions and really meaning business etc..etc.. and to then see Martin and Aspinwall come in, doesn't make any sense to me.

Surely the sum of these two signings could have afforded us one half decent signing?

AP and McCrae created extreme optimism with their words but, sadly, this has gradually fizzled away for me.

It sez on skysports.com that we beat off competition from other sl clubs, god knows who they were

Widnes & Wakefield probably.

Totally agree there mate.Tickle,Manu and Westerman will be the 1st 3 for those positions,and to me Aspinwall is a big improvement on Burnett.At the same time,Gentle can look at players like Green,Kent etc,and give them a go if he thinks they are good enough.

People just need to be patient and let the new hierarchy and the new squad do their jobs for us. AP has set lofty targets but I for one never thought we'd achieve it in season no 1. For me its a 2 maybe a 3 season project to get us back to a giant, rather than a sleeping one. These guys cannot perform miracles.
I'm sure if Gentle had been in place 5 months ago the new signings would be different. But he wasn't and they're not.
Having said that I'm still excited. The overseas signings will boost us no end and Lynch gives us a consistency and front row solidness we've not had for seasons, and the new young guys are projects whom I believe will come good. Both well respected at their previous clubs which says a lot for me.

Martin is here to do a holding job, bring centre stability until we can bring in a right centre who will move us on to the top level. In the mean time it gives great hope to our young centres and a good person to learn off.

Aspinwalls signing has got Andy Hays fingerprints all over it. He knows him well lets trust the guy. International aguad member 2008, lets give him a chance to get back to those heights again with us lot behind him.

The clubs transformation is not going to be an overnight fix. I for one won't be taking my bat and ball home till I've given the club till end season 2013 to show we are on track to meet Adams predictions.

There again, we could always go back to Rich and Kath I suppose. How fickle we are......

Not very good ones !

I'll just go and check.

And less depth? What would happen if we'd signed one 'half decent signing' and they missed the season injured? We'd be fooked.

Agree with you're other point though they haven't handled expectations very good but I'm still looking forward to next season as I feel we've got plenty of improvement in us & will surprise a few people.

Its quite obvious that AP is playing entirely within the salary cap and not funding any big name signings out of his own pocket, ala Warringtion. Big words when he took over, looks like more of the same mediocrity.

Clearly.. followed by this statement "Martin has impressed both Peter and myself in the way he has conducted himself over the last few weeks, he has had to be very patient before we could get the deal over the line and we are really looking forward to working with him and seeing the impact he can have in our side."

If there were other decent clubs looking he'd of gone to them before us! Without a doubt.

I wish everything was as cut and dry in my life as it appears to be in yours.

Great post

I don't see the point in either of those signings. I'd rather see us try some of these academy players that we keep being told about but that Agar kept well away from the first team.

I honestly expected much better than these two signings after AP's statements. Not world stars or marquee nrl players but "quality additions" as AP promised.

Any improvements next season will have to come from the fact that we have a coach that is hopefully fit for purpose, unlike the last one

Totally agree. Big words from AP, followed by much smaller actions when it comes to the squad.

Really don't see what the problem is with the Aspinwall signing. I think the only problem is Pearson in a bid to please the fans has built up an early expectation he cant deliver yet. Suspect at the time he thought it would be easier to sign players than the reality of what is available is.
We needed cover in the backs or someone solid and we got Martin who was available. Everyone on here identified we now had a glut of halfs and a shortage in the second row so we have got rid of Obst and brought in Aspinwall. Both are on one year deals. Realistically we where never going to win the league next year. Lets hope the plan is to bring in a couple of 1 year players to help build the foundations for the years after. Looking at the recruitment we should be stronger than last year and most people said Agar was the problem anyway. If our coach lives up to expectations we should still be looking to push the back end of the top 4. Personally I would be happy with that improvement if its a foundation only.

Cas have signed Grant Millington.

Mary's son?

Jesus there are some depressing people on here. I think we should pull out of Super League.

. Lets see what happens next season and then we can all judge.

Showing you're age their fella

Piggy's ?


Oink-Oink!

tweet from Richard Mathers a few minutes ago.........

"Chuffed Martin Aspinwall has sorted himself out at hull, one of our best players last year massively underrated..."

Trying to get a few to google her at work!

So what's your point?

I satnd by that he should have been sacked and jailed. However I would not have then denied him a second chance to come back inot RL with another club. He would have served his time. Aspinwall has done wrong and has paid the price. Does he deserve to be continually punished, no.

Most teams have a troubled player or two.

Leeds - Bailey
Warrington - Monaghan
Wigan -Hock
Saints - Pryce (now Cats)
Rovers - take your pick
etc etc

Andy Hay will know how big a risk he is having worked with him last season and i;m sure Gentle has talked to him about this.

I think the aspinwall and martin signings are a symptom of the mess rule, hetherington and agar left us in. Years of under investing in our youth development have left us with a massive hole which should be filled by 4 or 5 club trained players in the 1st team.

As has been said, there is no quick fix and we just have to trust that pearson is here to make money and the only way he can do that is by making us successful. Having watched Hull for around 35 years, I can wait another 2 or 3 to see us really challenging as long as I can see that we really are making progress towards that.

I don't think we know even half of the problems which were left when the old administration walked out of the door

This sums things up perfectly