In general, this does seem to be the case under Agar.

The only reason I can think of for Sharp been on the bench is to replace Whiting when he's needed elsewhere on the pitch during a game. This can be seen as great forward thinking by our coaching set up or be seen as a lack of confidence in certain players fitness. I personally think it's a waste of a bench spot and Sharp should be played if good enough.

my point being.... as I think you know

... is that Les Cats (for example) were a team flying high in the table, playing good rugby and touted by many as being contenders for the title. FC beat them, but on here we beat them because they didn't play well. I think people are so blinkered about Agar (and I can understand their frustrations) that they refuse to see how Hull are winning. They are beating teams up at the ruck - big packs like Cats (and quite a good job on Wigan before the players' ridiculous mistakes that I'm sure weren't in Agar's game plan) - with quite simple but effective drives. However, they are also putting moves on in the 20 that they weren't doing while we were waiting for Long to return, as well as playing good broken field rugby and backing up etc. Then we are going on in the second half as well - but this is down to the foundations laid in the first half where we dominate the middle of the park and tire the opposition. Warrington's pack will be a test but I don't think FC's pack will be afraid of them.

Another thing levelled at the team is that they haven't beat teams above them. Well , in the last three games they have done that twice.

Now, like it or not, the team are playing well and the simple fact of the matter is that it is down to coaching. I understand the reluctance to presume this can carry on against Warrington, Wigan, Leeds, Saints, Huddersfield but I'm going to see them play the game before I judge to see if they can continue improving (even without Tickle, Fitz, Long and Gleeson).

Btw, as an aside, how many of Hull's tries in the last 3 matches have been from kicks? I know the league average is around the 20% mark but I think we've scored 3 (one against Cats and 2 against Cas). We obviously aren't completing our sets because otherwise our tries would come from a kick on the end of the five drives.

I don't think anyone is taking anything away from our previous few results however after the promise of so many false dawns under Agar can you blame the general pessimism?

bradford also "ripped" crusaders defence apart and leeds "ripped" castleford's defence apart and they struggled to beat wakefiled the week before

Good post that, I am one of the most optimistic posters on here but it will take a lot more for me to be convinced Agar is the man to take us forward. A G/Final appearance may do it

What you seem to be missing is that agar wins about 1 in 6 games against the best teams and that this season we're below even that average. I believe you're the blinkered one and a couple of "flat track bully" results at a time when plenty of clubs are posting big scores, does not alter teh fact he is a rubbish coach.

"Super League's the most exciting it's ever been" © Eddie Hemmings every season.

People appear to be concerned on here that Agar may have finally got it right.....we are putting 50 past teams and still people look to find fault!

Will be an interesting few weeks, a lot of people including myself may be proved wrong by Agar...hope we are tbh

No one's concerned about anything. pearson will already have made his choice on the coach, I'm sure. I just find it amusing that the agar fans are crawling back out of the woodwork and you've changed your mind on him for the 23rd time.

The only bad thing for me about us winning is that we don't hear from garry brindley

I don't think so. People aren't 'finding fault' with our recent results, merely pointing out that they haven't generally come against the strongest opposition. Castleford, to take one example, are in all sorts of bother at the moment. They've looked more like wooden spoon contenders than play off hopefuls of late. It's good that we're putting teams like this to the sword and scoring some good tries in the process, but it's far from an indication that Agar has 'finally got it right'.

When we're consistently able to mix it with the top teams in the division and stand a realistic chance of challenging for silverware, then he'll have 'finally got it right'. As it happens, we're likely to finish in the bottom half of the table and, even allowing for a decent end to the season, this is clearly unacceptable.

Surely the Wire game will show if we have progressed forward?

Do we have to beat them by more points than last time?

By a drop goal would do me bud.

I'm not an Agar fan - but I presume you're referring to me as one of those "crawling from the woodwork" - but I am not someone who spends all of my time being an anti-Agar protagonist (if that is not an oxymoron). I hoped for a top four finish and/or final appearance this year based upon his improvement and said I'll join others in hoping for a replacement if we don't achieve that. We also need to remember that he's not the only one improving - McGuire and Smith for example are also getting better so he needs to not just close a gap but bridge that gap and then improve further if we are to beat those teams regularly. I have always been prepared to wait for him to develop which was clearly the last board's approach, and I was supporting the club on that one not just the team which is why I don't think I'm blinkered, I just have a different perspective to you. I believe that he isn't a crap coach, he's just not as good as several others of the teams above us so if he does go I won't be cheering him out I'll be wishing him well as I did with our last two coaches when they moved on. But I do think there have been signs this year that he has coped with injuries and players leaving in key positions better than before. I think the defence has improved hugely in the last few games which can only help the attacking play if you're not being battered all the time by the opposition but you are battering them with both your defence and attack up the middle. Also there have been good signs that we can break defences down and not rely on kicking to score.

The new owner might not want to wait any longer in which case I will have to change my outlook. But until he does I'll support FC, including Agar. I actually don't love Agar, I'm not related to him, I'm not actually him and I'm not obsessed enough with him to have his name all over my user picture.

I would love Agar to prove us all wrong,and coach our beloved team to success.Not holding my breath though.

well, I have to agree - the odds are not in his favour based on team-performance over the season so far. Although the noises coming out of the club....

Well said sir - particularly the last bit

His 'coping with injuries' has been helped enormously by the fact that we've had very few injuries this season.

but losing Long was key and Fitz has missed a lot of games. Imagine how Cas would have done without Chase. Anyway, what I'm saying is that he didn't cope well lst year with disruption in the halves but this year we are heading into the playoffs thinking that Westerman, Horne and Obst offer a real threat - which after all is pretty makeshift considering one of those is a hooker and the other is a second rower. I think he's learning from his mistakes - that's all.

I can't seriously believe we put together a mini revival similar to that of Easter and people are wanting to perhaps give agar more time.
We have had 4 years of absolute dire rugby,heard every excuse possibly and fell behind the main clubs from being top 4 contenders to scraping into the play offs.
Why is it only now the team is performing, is it down to the actual coaching which I'm sure won't be any different to the past or is it perhaps player influence and finally their pride and professionalism?
The sooner he goes the better for me and not only from a coaching perspective but more from the revenue being lost on lower attendances.

Fair enough. You accused people of being blinkered because they ignored the evidence of 3 games against some of the weaker teams in the division but then fail to acknowledge the previous 3 1/2 years of underachievement.

I think we've all waited long enough for agar to prove he's the top class coach that the club needs and deserves

A very fair post Sir.

He's not learning that quickly given that we're likely to finish two places lower than we did last year.

Should have stuck to the tried and tested 5 drives and a kick. I told him nothing good would come of this passing to the wingers malarky