Absolutely agree with this. I questioned his signing at the time because we had sufficient cover in the outside backs. I didn't buy the argument that when a player of his quality becomes available you should be in for him. This is a poor strategy. This isn't a criticism of Fonua as he is a quality player. It would have made sense if we hadn't signed Swift or given Faraimo a new contract. It was clear we needed another big aggressive forward to suit our style of play. After only 3 games in it's already looking like it is an error of judgement.

I wouldn't say that just yet. That was Fash and Masi's first hit out in Super league this year, and they were up against probably the most formidable pack in the comp.

Ratu has a bad hamstring injury which is likely to keep him out 3/4 weeks
Tuimavave ankle injury again could be another 3/4 weeks

I guess Connor will move to right centre with Albo coming in at 6. Kelly at 6 would probably have happened anyway even if Carlos hadnt had the injury.
Dont know if Faraimo will be fit but Radford not happy with Fonua who is obviously not fit.
Discipline is again becoming a concern and this is where we need a good captain on the field.

I thought Fonua did some decent things but he isn't fit. Whether thats just match fitness or he's carrying a slight injury I aren't sure, but he didn't look quite up to speed. Either way I'm not sure if we have much choice but to stick with him for now.

I'm going to assume the worst and say Faraimo, Ratu, Carlos, Bowden and Ma'u and Cator are unavailable next week. Obviously we know that Satae definitely is.

Shaul
Fonua
Connor
Griffin
Swift
Kelly
Sneyd
Taylor
Houghton
Sao
Jones
Lane
Ellis

Matongo
Brown
Johnstone
Fash

Again, the first 13 is strong. The bench is a concern, although I really like Brown and want to see him get a chance.

I love Sao, he's fastly becoming my favourite player. Got to be one of the best forwards in the league, he's strong in so many departments of the game.

Sorry I didn’t get to listen to the game
2am ko on a Sunday -Monday morning

Did we compete for the whole 80 ?

Did we look competitive ? For the 80 ?

Brown is injured apparently. And I think Lane has rib cartilage damage and had to play jabbed up when Bowden withdrew?

Our bench was garbage, that’s what lost the game.
Unfortunately Masi will never be a top player.
We had , Houghton, Fash and Johnstone all on at the same time.
Says it all .

Today’s game showed the lack depth in the Hull squad. 1-20 are quality and if we keep 90% of them fit we will be there or thereabouts.

Today’s 1st half we matched them but the bench today simply wasn’t big enough or super league quality. Fash and Matongo are simply not SL quality and never will be. If Chris Green can get into our cup final 17’s then he certainly is better options then what we have.

Having said all that it’s only round 3, nothing is won and i am still optimistic for the business end of the season. Carlos looked a class above and Sao is certainly looking a shrewd signing. My glass is certainly still half full with the positives certainly outweighing the negatives

Competed well first half and absorbed a lot from them. Third quarter a kick went into touch on the full then they scored four tries without us touching the ball.

no and no

Touched on this before the season kicked off

Big question marks over Bowden
Big question marks over whether Masi and Fash can step up

We need a few bodys back as the depth past a certain point isnt good enough as we saw last season

isn't it the same for the majority of the clubs though - take 4 first choice forwards out and a half and 2 backs and where are they all at?

first 40 we were decent and it was a close game, though saints errors probably kept us in front

first 20 of the 2nd half a shambles - started off by connor kicking out on the full for the second time in the game

last 20 we were ok but chasing the game and saints never really troubled by us

I look at that saints defeat to Warrington, plenty of adversity before the game and during, but if I was a saints fan, I’d of been happy with how they performed, the effort and intensity put in to the game. We just don’t cope at all, our fringe, young players just don’t seem to step up, it’s like they’ve not trained with the first team and are just thrown in. Our strongest 17 week in, week out, can compete with anyone, but that’s very unlikely going to be very often, and it’s the same for all clubs, to early In the season to be flapping, but I do worry the frailties we’ve seen over several years now, are just going to continue but with different personnel

Brown has an ankle injury I think.

Lanes rib injury was made worse after a jab during the Rovers game. Was never intended that he played today. Was sent out of town yesterday to another specialist for a jab when it became apparent that Bowden was unlikely to make it through today's warm up.

I'm a Radford fan but I raised my eyebrows at this decision.

Whilst I would with regret agree about Fash, I don’t go along with the Masi analogy, he was brought on late, and has all the attributes needed to blossom, he has size, power, and youth in this most testing of positions, he has bags of potential and will develop.

The second half was unreal, we never seemed to have the ball, Lomax showed us what a quality half back can do, Gaz and Ligi outstanding, I thought they were there for the taking, but they proved again what a smart organised team they are.

Having read a bit more and chatted to 2 mates in Hull I deduce the follwoing;

1. 6-2 up at half time and 7 interchanges available
2. half time talk and re focus
3. saints score 30 points in the 2nd half inc 4 tries in 10 mins
4. gallant loss

Now I’ve seen the tries
2 were dodgy
All tries we’re moving to their left to Mahe’s wing
They clearly wanted to target our right edge all the 2nd half for the points

Not sure who else could have played in the forwards without losing an interchange. Mind you that might have been the better option. Is it Bowden's knee again?

Turned on today expecting the usual Radford out , although one or two questioned his decisions there was a lot of good constructive thoughts.I don't usually knock players even more so youngsters but it has to be said Masi for the huge unit he is, simply does not run his weight.He came on when Saints forwards had put a huge shift in and made no impact at all. Yes it was his first run out but how many games in the past has he run any different.Ellis is a freak ,what a player and all those who said he was past it there are not many better than him .Sao our best forward by a mile played really well .Conner well cannot say anything what's already been said.At one point i thought we were looking at a 50 + drubbing but the lads did dig in,they need to forget this and march on to next week

Buchanan and Patterson-Lund were in the 21 and both could have played back row

Yesterday was definitely a game of two halves. Thought 1st half both sides were going ok but 2nd half St's were still ok but we were just awful, St's really didn't have to do anything special at all to score. The loss of Ratu certainly made a difference as they targeted the edge with Fonua who had a poor game and just does not look in shape.
Thought the use of the interchanges was poor and like the bad old days when Ellis went off we crumbled. The pleasing aspect was we stopped the rot but that is tainted with the fact that in the small patches we looked interested in the 2nd half we scored but just didnt do anywhere near enough in the 80mins.
Not many players come out of that game with credit with Sao, Ellis and Tuimavave the only standouts in an otherwise pretty abject performance. Connor has played Kelly straight in to 6 for Wigan even without the possible injury to Tuimavave and he needs to control his. frustration when its not going his way.
The 2nd half we made more yardage going backwards than forwards and Sneyd having to kick from behind our own line when we started that set on our 40 summed up the 2nd half and our discipline yet again was an issue.
Disappointing but not the end of the world though concerning the number of injuries picked up already and particularly with Bowden.

At least Radford doesn't appear to be blaming it all on injuries which is a step in the right direction imo.

If I were trying to put a positive spin on it I would say that the humbling defeat against Widnes in 2016 was a turning point in the season. Now, like then, we have maybe been believing our own hype and needed knocking down a peg or two. The fact that we rolled our sleeves up and at least did our best in the last 20 is positive.

On the other hand, it's yet another game where we have folded at the first sign of adversity. Good teams just don't go from leading to conceding 4 tries in 10 minutes. At this level it should all be about slowly turning the screw until the other side finally cracks. Saints didn't have to work hard at all, it was way too easy. You can point to injuries and the disruption caused by them, but none of that is an excuse for such a sudden dramatic collapse.

All we can do is hope for a good response at Wigan. Hopefully at least a couple of the doubtful players will be fit enough.