I live for that Wembley win. I guess its the good times and the feeling they bring that keeps me going. The thought of another last minute try like in 05 and the sheer elation that brings. The reality is that I was totally fed up of everything this time last year, but was living in hope of that famous win at Wembley. Sitting here now that dream is so far from reality its not funny.
As has been said, when we've been cr4p before it was because we were skint. I do not know what the excuse is in 2014.
My only difference to you is that I have no faith at all in us improving next season, with or without half backs as I don't see the brains to implement a decent plan. But we will still be there, buying 150 year anniversary gear and cheering the boys on and getting more frustrated.

I watched Newcastle Man City yesterday and looked at that full stadium. Full of fans in black and white and I would imagine all but a very small number have actually seen their club win anything or note. I asked myself why that was. Why do 50000 Geordies turn up week in week out year after year to see an average side?
Okay there is only 10 to 15000 of us, but what is the pull that keeps us dreaming, keeps us returning, yet ultimately the only constant is that we are disappointed. Even this year, when most of us expected very little. We have somehow produced a squad that has let us down badly.
WHY FFS

Not sure I'd say we have a "team full" of ex Hull players. Granted Kirk Dixon played a handful of games before you decided he wasn't going to make it and he joined us in 2007 and is now knocking on for 150 appearances. Likewise Ellis was deemed not good enough and allowed to join us, and Carvell is playing a very minor role when all our other forwards are injured. Lynch went well for you during his time, but remember he came through our academy system.
So 4 players, 3 of whom barely played for you at all and one who came from Cas in the first place. Hardly a "team-full" is it?

On your logic it could be said that you have a "team full" of ex-Cas players (Westerman, Arundel, Thompson, Watts) who, apart from Watts, have regressed since joining Hull. Next year you'll also have ex-Cas player Marc Sneyd who will probably do the same if the clueless coach you have now is still in charge.

You forgot about Scott Wheeldon, but yeah I've never really understood the 'you have a team of ex-Hull players' when really it's the other way around.

Okay split hairs not FULL but littered with players deemed not good enough for us, even Lynch. Add in Scott Wheeldon as well. The fact of the matter is we thought they were surplus to requirements and yet Mr Powell has manged to mold them into a team that plays with immense pride and performing far better than anybody expected in February 2014.
As for those coming our way only Westerman has improved which is my point entirely. It was certainly not a dig at Cas.

The blame for the debacle lays firmly at the door of Adam Pearson and previous owners.

Why??? , they always appoint unproven Head Coaches, where there are no structures & foundations in place.

We need someone who can gel a group of individuals into a TEAM.

Our passing is slow & inaccurate, dummy runners are virtually non existent. - these are coachable,- you dont need top players to achieve these basic skills.

Game after game, we see the same failings, basic errors slow wayward passing,dropped passes, mistimed dummy runners , I dont feel the staff/players work hard enough at improving basic core skills.

It did sound like a dig with the "small village team" comment!
I never understood when you signed Arundel, he was awful for us too.
Although I don't see him every week, I'm not sure Westerman has got back to the level he was at Cas. He might look like he has improved to you, but that's due to the massive amount he went backwards in his first couple of years at Hull.
I just hope Sneyd doesn't go the same way.

Sorry I see your point. I did not mean any offence to Cas. But when you compare like for like. Incomes, crowds etc we should be doing better than Cas. Thats on paper and potential. Sadly for us the reality is that we are a poor second best.
We have always done well out of Castleford in my time of supporting Hull. Knocker Norton being the prime example.
I look forward to cheering you on, on Saturday from my seat in the stand and hope the FC rejects bring home the cup for you.

Spot on.

I was told that this year was an improvement on last as the players had some kind of working week structure and knew where they stood day to day. Well thats working well.

I recently attended a RU coaching course which was taken by a regional coach. He emphasised the basics over and over again. Okay I coach youngsters, but he stressed that even the national squads do basic drills to keep the basic skills up to scratch.
Its a different code I know, but the principle remains the same. I couldn't imagine any of the basics of the game being practiced by our squads. (I stand corrected if they do).
PTB is a massive issue for us and while he is part of "Club Hull" I would be looking to replace Houghton for a start as his distribution is far too slow. He will be feeding Sneyd and Pryce next year and that will dampen their effectiveness immediately.
But I guess from November until February they will have plenty of time to get that right.

Great post ... especially Re:Houghton.

Houghton's distribution could be fixed easily, his passing technique, accuracy are all coachable,
but... we never see any improvement.

Totally Agree, I just don't get why every FC owner wastes money on buying over the hill players but then refuse to pay good money to bring a top coach in what is probably more important then that big signing. Why we have to always go for the unproven assistant coach is beyond me this job is to big for someone learning there trade.

Houghton for a long time now has lost the basic passing skill required of a top class hooker, he does`nt drill the ball away from acting half with the speed to create space for his runners and the loft in his passing gives opponents the time to shut down any space that runs had made.
Sneyd is`nt the answer to our halfback problem either. He will not set alight the game as some anticipate.
Lets hope Cunningham can pressurize Houghton into realizing his own inadequencies.
I for one have had enough of this season, I no longer have the desire to go although I do but it is now with trepidation.
Thankfully we avoided the drop but next season it is a certainty we will be embroiled in a lower league playoff scrap.

Another worry has to be players like Crooks, Bowden, Cunningham and Thompson not playing for about a month now, this can't be good for them or their confidence. With three games left and nothing to play for I'd hope that these players will get some game time.

On another note, I hope the RL look into the under 19s and Dual Reg, as it isn't working for young fringe players at the moment.

If Sneyd had played yesterday we would have had the game won in 20 mins, really lacked someone with composure and a kicking game to take advantage of the wind.

Even with him signing and the other two, I don't think we will make the required progress with our current coaching set up.

I think its looking increasingly likely that neither Crooks nor Thompson will be here next season.

Its not looking good for Cunningham either if he wasn't included yesterday when Heremaia was injured.

Bowden is better than Green IMO and should be playing instead of him.

,
Is that so I thought he got young player of the year and was nominated for rookie of the year. And an Knights call up

Looks that way about Crooks, such a shame as he is the most naturally gifted back we have, with a good coach and support of players he would be a great centre, I think if he goes, it will be a decision we come to regret.

I think Cunningham still has a future at Hull, think Radford is holding him back (wrongly IMO), but will play off the bench next season.

Not too bothered about Thomspon, started teh season great, but his form tailed off and the last few games he played, he was disappointing, his defence needs some serious work to play in the forwards, I'd look to play him in the backrow from now on.

Green and Bowden are about the same level IMO, some games they are excellent, others poor, both need to be more consistent, will be a good fight between them for the 4th prop next season.

Think we need to realise with Ben Crooks that sometimes it's just not the clubs fault that things haven't worked out and the finger of blame needs to be pointed at the player. Easy to blame the club and coach, especially this year.

Not quite sure I understand your point. At Cas Westerman won SL Young Player of the Year and was called into the full England squad (only to get injured before the international games). Since moving to Hull he has not regained his spot in the England squad until this year and has not performed as well as he did at Cas (from what I have seen).

Why? What has Ben Crooks done wrong? Missed some tackles yes but what about the inept displays of Whiting at centre.he has also missed tackles and has been run around easily by anyone with a bit of pace yet Radford continues to play him.That said he will be dropped for the next match.
You cant blame Crooks at all for being disillusioned the way Radford has treated him.Even when Yeaman was injured recently and an ideal time to give Crooks a run Radford overlooked him and played an under19 rookie.
We have an incompetent coach and it will be travesty if he or any other flair player is hounded out of the club by Radford because they are not a tackle machine.

You're going only on what you've seen on match day, there's 6 other days in the week that require a certain level of effort and commitment to being a professional RL player. It's not even a secret, there's plenty on here that know what's going on with Ben, some issues are beyond even Ben's control, but most of them are his fault.

I think he was talking about Arundel.

There is no such thing as a dummy runner, although plenty run like dummies.

Option runner is the term these days, all runs should be timed so that they can be hit on the flat pass, that at times creates more destruction than the poorly timed pass out the back. The whole attack structure needs all the cogs in time to make things happen, but we have slow distribution and our pivots go sideways so we run our outside players out of space.

Basics are a must and no team at any age group should neglect them, no matter how good you are. Not sure on FCs sessions but When Sandercock was at KR had started every day off with basics and had that running right down the structure.

I'd guess Leeds, Saints, Wigan etc will all do similar.

As for working on players skills, how long do you think it takes to correct and re train a bad habit at the high levels. A lot longer than people think, if they haven't developed certain skills at a young age, they may never master them, can slightly improve but you'd be surprised.

Well maybe you would like to enlighten us with the Ben Crooks behind the scene story.
All I see is a very talented young player who at the moment is being frozen out of the club because of an incompetent coach.
You have to play to the strengths of flair players.We know Crooks has a weakness in defence but a good coach will work on that.You can also protect him a little more by playing someone like Ellis on the right for several games.
You cant blame Crooks for being disillusioned.

That's because this incompetent coach sees nothing more than tackling,and how many metres you make returning the ball.