Fitz is still relatively raw coaching wise. Think this is his first year as an actual assistant to Robinson, he's been water carrier/Academy coach before that.

I'd take a punt on Anthony Griffin who was at Brisbane . Loads of experience in coaching within u20's ,Queensland cup & First grade .

A legend in his own imagination

I'd take nearly any assistant from aus , as there so far in front of us in coaching terms . Always been unsure on McNamara but at the minute I think I'd take him in front of Radford at the minute . Only assistants this country I'd considered ŵould be deacon who seems to be getting good raps from people . At the minute my choice would be Morgan if available . Experience here plus in aus as an assisant under a top coach

Here be evidence of the Hull FC misconception.

In the late 1970's Hull FC were all about the money. They spent big.

Those were the days? We won the league ONCE. the challenge cup ONCE. after that we won some peripheral trophies a few times.

Don't get me wrong, Hull FC were a huge team in the early 1980's. But I do think that some see this as a golden era, when in fact it was a never really swept the board.

Sharp was first team coach at Manly for a while

Kearney has been pretty good for NZ, but was dreadful when coach at Parra, & was sacked IIRC.

It wont be long before he gets a gig at one of the NRL teams in a year or two , He 's learning under one of the best .

It's a very good point, although we were at least excellent at finishing runners up.

The main trophies were more competitive back then - between 1978 and 1987 there were seven different Champions and eight Challenge Cup winners. In the last ten seasons there have been four and five respectively.

Not as huge as KR though in terms of trophies won in that golden age of Kingston upon Hull rugby.

35 yrs ago. Most people who go since wd been in SL wont even remember it now. Its in the archives

Assuming we are talking 1979 (when Hull returned to Div 1) to 1986 (when both stopped winning)care to back up that lie?

A great era though and great for the City. For a period of seven years, at least one of the two clubs was either winning or competing for trophies each season.

Unfortunately, I think this success, especially in Hull's case has inflated our expectations ever since.

No one had a devine right to be the best team (you hear it all the time in football - there must be c50+ clubs trying to get 'back where they belong', when the Premier League only has room for 20 clubs). However, with our infrastructure, full salary cap and fan base, we should be achieving better than we do.

Not sure on Fitzgibbon, like our current coach he workhorse as a player (though obviously of a completely different standard!) and being workmanlike isn't what we are bad at. We need flair and attacking skills.

Good win today, but still have to comment that Tony Smith has now lost 4 in a row at Wire, which for a club with their ambitions won't go down well...could he be tempted down our end of the M62?

If Smith can't get Wire winning with a superior squad, what makes you think he'd do anything for us?

Radford sounded very emotional there.

he's having a poor spell at the moment, but his record is 2 SL wins, 3 Grand Final defeats, 3 Challenge Cups the best record of any of the coaches we even have a dream of attracting.

I wonder exactly what Tony Smith's coaching input is these days. Is he moving upstairs and far less hands on these days and is this by personal choice? Perhaps he doesn't want the day to day grind any more but having said that he is still worth making inquiries about. A reduced Smith input and the increasingly influential contribution of his new assistant certainly provides a plausible explanation for Warrington's recent downhill slide.

I'd say Brian Noble has a better record.
3 SL wins. 2 GF defeats. 3 WCC wins. 1 CC win.

But I'd still rather have Smith!

But Smith inherited a team that had won nowt with a reputation for underachieving and turned them into winners. Noble inherited a fully formed champion side and slowly engineered its decline.

A very biased assessment there.

I don't think anyone ever said he didn't care or didn't want to succeed.

Clearly he has been feeling the pressure as anyone would.

Interesting that he said he would have walked if we had suffered a heavy defeat today - did he say by 20 or 30 or by 30 or 40?

I have remained convinced that he would/will walk and not wait to be sacked. That's why Pearson can afford to back him so much because he knows he wont have to sack him. Not sure he said he would have walked today though - thought he said that if we were getting comprehensively hammered every week by 30/40 points then he would go, which clearly we're not. Was glad he had a minor pop at his critics though. If they can't take it etc....

Radford is only criticised due to his own abysmal coaching record and sub standard performances.
Thought having a pop at the disgruntled fans was unprofessional personally. Yes we've won today but Lee will do well to remember one swallow does not make a summer.
When we see improved and consistent performances then maybe this criticism will subside but until then he'll have to take the rough with the smooth due to the position he finds himself in and criticising those fans will hardly do his popularity any favours.

But as long as your happy he's criticised the fans I'll let you enjoy your small perceived moral victory.