Zak Hardacker to Rhinos and loaned back to Fev

For a squad to be strong, it needs 5 props of a decent standard. We now have that with Fitz, Radford, Dowes, O'Meley and Moa.

Would Dowsey be in my first choice 17 if all were fit? No, but he's a pretty decent player to have as a backup. Chances are he'll play in most of the games when covering injuries to the other four.

Get Lauaki in the second row running wide and feeding his winger, that's where he's most effective. Fitz needs to be in the middle, in the thick of it just like last season, having him out wider would be a waste imo.

They've also signed Ben Cross from nk.

Hudds have signed Luke O'Donnell from nqc.

No real option i guess. Pleased the club have held firm with their valuation of Dowes.

Some quite ungracious comments I feel.

217 appearances for Hull. Fair enough, he might not be a match-winning headline-grabber and you'd be hard pressed to find one of those 217 games where he's won the game but, you'd also be hard pressed to find one that he's lost.

Realistically there were only two English props doing the rounds that could have been signed. McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Bryn Hargreaves. LMS was always going to choose St Helens while maybe Hargreaves could have been signed but I think his moving to Bradford took everyone by surprise.

There simply aren't any leading props available, hence why Rovers had to settle for keeping Wheeldon and why Hull have kept Dowes. No point weakening your squad just to make a statement.

Any sort of cup run would be a bonus

Ungracious or realistic? He's an average prop but was all that was available.

We all appreciate his efforts in an FC shirt for his 217 appearances but at the same time would have all liked a higher calibre replacement. We'll all also be fully behind him in 2011 now he's signed for FC.

Can hear the cash registers ringing from here with people rushing to buy their passes!

If I pretend to have missed the sarcasm I'll congratulate you on you're first positive post!

Well done champ!

Just find it interesting how Dowes isn't good enough because he's average, yet someone like Yeaman, who has been average since June 2006, is largely considered to be a key player.

agreed, and on the back of sigNing radford for another 2 years makes the club a disgrace in my opinion...do the board actually think we will be challenging for honours with these two in the aquad? i dont, there 1. not good enough and 2. past there best....
no season renewal for me until these sort of players are shown the door at last...oh wait amit, radfords got another year after this andlongy wants another year



the mind boggles

Me too, a reduced deal works for me. Dowes is dependable and solid which at the right price is good business. Of course I wish we had signed Fielden or LMS but you don't get everyone you go after.

Thanks very much

, just off down to get in the queue!

Sort of agree. I was very impressed with Dowes when he went came back from that personal training thing he did in London a few years ago, but of course he was brought back early, never finished it and once the effect wore off he has looked solid but unspectacular. Bad move by the club to not let him complete it.

Not overly impressed by the whole thing though - smacks of "quick get Dowesy signed up, Player A/B/C has turned us down".

He won't let us down but it's not going to stir the masses to run to the KC to buy a season pass.

Take some sandwiches and a flask you might be some time.

Is he? If you read the views of a lot on here for the past couple of years about Yeamo most will agree that he's been average at best.

The difference i guess is that Yeaman has had no service for 4 years like he used to get. Dowes has just been overtaken and is doing the same job as he always has.

With a decent halfback Yeamo could get back to his best. He needs to stop dropping the ball when hitting the gap though!!

I went to the England v Cumbria game a couple of weeks back and i thought that Dowes first stint on the park was the best i have seen him play in 4 years. Broke tackles and got a couple of good off-loads away.
It is Richard Agars job to get him to replicate that form in a Hull shirt. There-in lies your problem.

Whatever you think about Ewan Dowes re-signing the one positive you can take is that with this piece of the jigsaw sorted we must be a lot closer to knowing how things look under the cap and who we can in fact seriously go for now if needed.

Would have being bitterly disappointed if he'd have got more than 1 year however hopefully this 1 year might give him a kick up the . Not many teams have a better back-up prop than Dowes (hopefully that's all he is). He clearly had an over-inflated value of himself and hopefully the fact that he only got one year from us and the lack of interest from others will wake him up.

Fair point.

Makes you wonder why there wasnt a clamour for his signature from other super league clubs..

Perhaps the likes of Wakey, Cas and Bradford who were rumoured to have held talks with him were not prepared to pay him at the same level as Hull are..?

TBF he was only playing against England, lets get things into perspective

I think a change of scenery may have actually done him good on this occasion though I am not unhappy that he provides us with depth in the squad.

As mentionned earlier he hasnt performed at the high standards he set since 2006 and by going on that course type thingy in 2008/09 kind of shows that he was trying something differnent to try to recapture that form.

For me he must look across at Moa, O Meley, Radders and Fitz and know that if he doesnt perform then he is unlikely to get much game time unless he produces this Cumbria type form.

I hope he does for Hull's benefit.

That Hull were. We've reduced our offer to him which is likely to be nearer or the same as what they offered him.