I'd have taken Garbutt, but he has had injury problems, so given our injuries last year it would have been an expensive risk.

Linnet is average, probaly on par with Blair, solid defender not much in attack, better suited to the backrow, I wouldn't have him in our 17.

I'm not worried about Rovers, I'm more worried the fact that we look further away from the top 4/5 than last season.

Really need a good start and some luck with injuries, but I really think that we have messed up recruitment for next season.

Not helped my Pearsons comments either, I know they were said in anger but it was an error on his part.

I hope we are all wrong

Garbutt has had one injury hit season. Does that mean the majority of your first 17 are expensive risks?

Going on comments by Aussie fans who probably know better than you, Linnet is a good signing. Better than anyone you have in the second row.

I'm surprised your Aussie friends even know who we'll be playing in the second row.

Manu and Mini? The two players some on here feel should not have both been offered extended contracts.

Sorry I did not make myself clear. The reference to being better than any of your players was my opinion after reading opinions about Linnet and FC second rowers.

How many times has Linnett played in the back row, when I've seen him at centre he has looked average in the NRL and Scotland.

I've looked on Twitter and can't much comments either way, Has there even been an announcement on the NQC Twitter page, couldn't find a mention on there forums either, doesn't seem like anyone is bothered.

I would swap any of our centre or backrowers for him, certainly not for a quota spot.

Might do a job for Rovers but we don't need a defensive centre/bsvkrower.

He actually is the type of player Radford likes.
Decent size ,good defence but no pace.

Wasn't it 14 appearances in 2015, 18 in 2016, 26 in 2017 and 9 in 2018?

Maybe you meant one [inon[/i injury hit season?

Dawson is bang average.Why do you think he could be a good signing when he will probably spend most of the season in the reserves.
When you look at Warrington,Wigan,Saints,Castleford,Leeds and Catalan which of those six do you think we will finish above next season?
Then there is Salford,HKR and Huddersfield who are all likely to be stronger next season.
Top 4 no way,likely around seventh or eighth.

Only joined Leeds in late June 2015, so it isn’t bad. Wikipedia (fwiw) credits him with 84 games over those 3 and a half seasons, rather than 67.

lets see, can see us finishing above cats leeds and being around 4th, injuries again could play a part but that goes for all teams, I can see dawson being a bit like aspinwall in the respect when we signed him most where against it,

Your once fearsome pack is looking a bit old and stale now Paea isn’t the player he was and now a year older Mini should have been released and the days of flogging Houghton for 80 minutes have gone

Injuries? What injuries? I suppose you were the only team to suffer last season. Do you honestly think you will move up from eighth to fourth when so far you have not strengthened your squad. The only thing that will have changed is that everyone will be a year older.

taylor Bowden green masi beinik are not really old timers, manu and mini hopefully will be spelled more and think we can get another year out of them, Hadley will play more time and westy will come in, hougton does need spelling and think litten can step in, squad players Thompson lane paea etc can fill in, so not really old and stale as you put it, of course injuries play a part, we have 3 class halfbacks, and a decent and big 3/4 plus throw in shaul at FB and yea am optimistic of a good yea, time will tell

Taylor is a class player Bowden won’t have had a pre season so I wouldn’t expect much from him Green is injury prone to say the least Masi and Beinek aren’t experienced enough to lead a pack and you still haven’t replaced your two best forwards in Ellis and Watts

I was just going off the figures on the rugby league project website.

Taylor is better than Watts, but agree not replaced them, hopefully Westerman can stay fit as he looked good in his few games and with a full pre season behind him and think he will be like a new signing

I think, after a couple of excellent seasons, the way 2018 ended for Hull means that the fear factor for opponents that had maybe built up has dissipated. Whether you can get it back depends on a few things, and two that are prominent among them are...

1. Albert Kelly entering his third season with a club for the first time. Unknown territory - will stability help him, or will it be more in the same direction. Now your pack looks less dominant, your x-factor players will be key. If Kelly and Connor are firing, your pack will be under less pressure.
2. What level is Westerman at now? He hasn’t quite lived up to the initial hype he had at Cas and at 29 he probably never will, but if he’s still at the level he was in his first spell at Hull your back row looks decent in terms of both quality and depth. Last year was an odd one for him though, and while I doubt he’ll be any worse than middling that might be enough to see you lose more forward battles than a top team can afford to.

Interesting "stat" in the HDM.....

"Sneyd and Kelly have played 32 games together over two years in all competitions, with Hull winning 21 and drawing one match. Without them it’s 12 victories from 34 matches."

And some suggest that injuries should have no real impact.

I'd have said it was fairly obvious you'd win more games with your first choice halves than not

Do they? I mean, some might say that their impact is overstated at times, but that’s different.

Obviously injuries do have a major impact. Last season though many fc fans and the media went overboard as though you were the only team to suffer.

If they have only played 32 games together in two years it could easily be a problem again in 2019. It suggests they are both injury prone.

Some would say it's not bad luck if they only play 50% of this season then, stats say it's inevitable.

Kelly's head injury has to be a worry, one knock to it and it's a number of games out, 2 or more knocks and you've got to look at the longer term.

, Your two big signings only played 19 matches between them last year so always a risk, we will be ok

Kelly played 29 games and Sneyd 30 in 2017, (Sneyd 33 in 2016), so most of the "missing" games were last season. Hardly injury prone yet, although I would concede that Kelly's playing days could be numbered.

Yes agree Kelly if he gets another head knock and is sidelined does it then become more of a case that his health comes first, as you say if so his playing days might be numbered, hopefully not though as hes a fantastic player