There’s an argument for both points, a coach can make a difference with average teams and get them performing way above the individual parts but there is also an element of bad influences needing to be weeded out. Powell has done a great job at Cas, Did he weed out Chase, probably not and I reckon he’d love to have kept him at the end of the year but I think the fact he’s left has improved (encouraged) the squad to perform better, ‘’ They think you’re a one man team lads’’. Some players will not respond to certain coaching techniques, they maybe think they’re above it or just not of the right mentality. Would Powell have had the same impact at Hull, who knows but probably not, maybe he just came at the right time and got a few things right.

I do think Hull seems to be a poisoned chalice tho’, Looking at the last successful coaches. Kear, cup win and sacked next year, Sharpe grand final and sacked the next year, Agar I’ll skip but to be honest the board never backed him, Gentle cup final and sacked the next year. There is no continuity or strategy. Personally I think the baby was thrown out with the bathwater with Gentle, McCrae was the one you needed rid of, Gentle being left to his own devices would have got you going in the right direction.

It's difficult to ban someone with no evidence.

If anyone has been receiving abusive PMs - from whoever - please forward them to a Moderator so that we can deal with it. Or use the Report system. The AUP applies to the PM system as well as the general forum.

Spot on Chris. As much as I like AP he is not in this because he is a passionate Hull FC fan, he's in it as a businessman. And the aim in any business is to make money. He will most certainly act if revenues drop but I imagine he'll act even sooner if he feels it's not working.



Can this be done though? There are plenty of fans fed up of the "jam tomorrow" promises. We showed last year that we have the capability to get to the Challenge Cup final. I'd like to see that as part of the plan. Say that we are going to need a few years to sort out the squad in the league but say we're aiming to reach a few CC finals in that time and hopefully win at least one. Should keep the fans morale up providing we don't put in a dire performance like we did last year.

The dilemma facing Pearson, is that will his 'customers' purchase next
season's passes, if Radford is still in post??

If player deals are been agreed on Tony's/Radford recommendation, he needs to
make a decision fast on Radford's future - does he pull the plug on these deals,
and sack Radford?? - or continue with Radford? maybe a risk of pass sales??

I suggested Brian Smith, maybe as a Consultant or a DOR, as he's RL's version of Red Adair.
he sacked 5 star players at the Knights, then picked 5 players from a local council park,
they then made the NRL play-offs.

Serious question, but have you ever seen him play?

When he played a centre foe Les Catalana, he was a very good player, big and strong with a good offload, they were disapointted to lose him when he went to RU.

Also looked a good player in the NRL for the Roosters

My big concern si his injurt record, lack of gametime and being out of RL for 2 years, but if he can play like he did at centre for Catalans he will be a good signing and certainly better than our current two centres.

We showed in the last two years that we have the odd good performance littered with bang average stuff. The same as this year. I don't accept that we have 'arguably a better squad' this year at all - for a start we had Briscoe and Lineham on the wings whereas in the last game we had Colbon and Crookes. We no longer have any player on the books with even an average kicking game. We got rid of Lynch who is now leading from the front at Cas despite being written off by many on here.

Powell looks like he's a great coach. He's got a good spine to his team with Dorn/Sneyd/Clark and the players clearly buy in to what he's doing. He's certainly a lot further down his coaching path than Radford. It's a shame that we lost to them away in a game we should have won but for a succession of poor individual mistakes (Powell virtually said as much). Maybe confidence wouldn't be as low as it is now had we managed to win a couple of those close early games where many on here were praising our new-found attacking structure.

Pearson will have done his sums - he gets more money from Sky now than he used to. And more next year again presumably (if we're still in the top league). Seems he's of the thinking that it's the playing roster that is the priority like it or not. Will he get it right this time ?

You are very good poster, but I do believe that you are wrong on this one, history has shown that a change in coach and the signing of good players in key positions can make a huge differences, examples of Warrington, Huddersfield and Warrington have already been used.

Even Saints last season , brought in brown, make a few good signings and there has been significant improvement in their performances.

We are certainly in a better position that Cas, who look like at least finishing in the top 6, which is a massive improvement, as mentioned even last year when Powell took over with the same squad won the majority of his games.

5 years is far too long, a good coach who can bring in the right players and get the best out of the players we have could turn this club around in 18 months IMO.

AP has continually stated his desire to get this club challenging year after year. In the off-season he changed things around and took a different approach, I reckon he's fully aware of what's needed at the club, the consequences of the new approach and will see it through.

There's been a constant need to recruit the best players at our club, then settling for 2nd best once they inevitably choose Leeds/Wigan/Saints/Wire. We need more focus on getting the right player, not necessarily the best, Tuson is a perfect example of this imo.

I don't disagree that the club needs to make huge changes and these will take time. However how long can the club expect fans to keep seeing and hearing the same thing? Gentle was here to do that apparently and sacked after his 2nd year. I think his main failing along with AP in some ways was having SM deal with recruitment side.

The question is whether we currently have the right man in place for the job? I don't believe we do for the reasons I have already posted in this thread.

I don't see anyone suggesting we have a top side quite the opposite, from the start most have said we would be a side that would/should finish between 6th & 8th which I do think is a fair assessment. The facts are we are a team that look devoid of ideas and revert back into a shell that we have seen all too many times since Sharp left and is chopped & changed every week. Plus the Coach has openly criticised both his players and the clubs loyal fanbase which shows signs for me of a man out of his depth.
However even ignoring these issues the squad is performing below its capability which is a worry with no sign of a genuine and sustained improvement.

So for me its not just a case of sacking the coach will fix it, but we need a proven coach with the ability to undertake such a job and to do that that won't be cheap. Promoting an inexperienced assistant at this level to Head Coach who has been part of the malaise as a player and assistant coach was not the right appointment to start with.

Warrington already had the likes of Briers, Monaghan etc. the squad was already there for Tony Smith. It only needed a few changes, our problem is much more severe than theirs.
Hudds had a core group of youngsters already breaking through, but Brough was an astute signing by them. I think our club is where Hudds were a couple of years before Brown took over.




Again, the nucleus is already there. People could see Saints' problem a mile off, too many Perry's after a quick payday before retirement.




I just don't agree, Powell will need at least 3 years from where they are now to get that squad top 4/challenging. Unfortunately for Powell it looks likely Clark will leave and that will be a massive setback for them.

That is quite true however the squad was pretty much the same as the one that was failing to deliver under Lowes as the Head Coach until Smith came in with Lowes dropping down assistant.

As for Powell no one is suggesting that Cas are now a top 4 side what has been pointed out is he has taken a group that were failing to win games under Millward and turned them into a team that has improved significantly from when he took the reins. Whether he and the Cas board can take it further time will tell but as it stands he has without doubt improved them as a team on the pitch.

Dont forget the years of underachieving under Paul Cullen, Smiths done a great job, and he would be a massive improvement on Radford! And it wouldnt take 5 Years. 1865 as lost the plot on this one

How would we attract these players that will improve us, if we have a coach who seems to be out of his depth?

At this moment in time that is probably right. However if you took those players that were playing for Wire under Cullen who looked bang average at best, a big chunk of those became vital parts of the team under a different coach. Great coaches bring the best out of the majority of the players the majority of the time. Radford seems to have brought the best out of Westerman and Shaul (although Shaul was showing that last season as well) but nobody else seems to be putting in their best performances under him.

Do you think there is a big percentage of players that are playing as well as or even better than they did last season? If your answer to that is no, then you have to ask yourself why not?

I would be quite happy to concede that only a change of management and a few changes were all we needed if we had as good a squad as those teams. And yes I do mean even Cas! They have the in form centre in the league, a winger outside him scoring for fun and probably one of the top 3 hookers in the team and a 6 & 7 only bettered by Wigan. Problem for Cas is these players are all on top form together, teams will work them out and they will suffer losses of form, and so their season will stutter and they'll achieve the more realistic position of 6th/7th.

Too many of the current squad are not good enough for a top 2 team challenging. I reckon 20 of the top 25 aren't good enough. With Westy, Shaul, Lineham, Paea & Crooks (needs to physically mature) being the only ones. (Note i'm only stating top 25, that doesn't include Bowden or Hadley, who I think is pure class and will be a star).

I've only seen Westerman and Shaul improve but I haven't seen any performances worse than last year. For me it's the same players churning out the same performances. The only ones showing anything different are the ones that weren't here last year - Feka, Paea, Talanoa, Thompson etc. but while the dross is still here these players will become consumed by it.

I think Ellis, Houghton, Talanoa, Tuson, Heremaia, Rankin are all good enough for super league, that gives me 14 decent players with your list. We need a better coach!

Why isn't Radford a part of this dross? He has been at the club a long time.

I've not suggested that simply a change of management and a few changes are all we need. What I am saying is the current squad is not performing to its potential or ability under Radford. I accept we need major changes but we also need the right man to do it and so far for me Radford has shown he is not the right man for the job.

If Cas are indeed to finish 6 or 7th then they have improved significantly under Powell. As for the players being in top form I don't argue they maybe but that is what happens when a team gels and know there game, but that's how teams get success by players reaching top form. Powell has whether you accept it or not played his part in getting this to happen it isn't just a fluke. Do you think Huddersfield would have got the league leaders shield if their players hadn't performed on form for a good chunk of the season?

At the end of the day for me it is not a simple case of changing the coach. We've been changing coaches for years and we've not seen any changes to the inconsistencies that have plagued the club. There needs to be a serious clear out and cleanup at the club as we try to get to the root of the problem. If ever there was a time for allowing a coach the time he needs to build his own team it is probably now.

But is Radford the coach to bring about these changes and be given that time? The answer for me is no. We're not playing any better under Radford than we was under Gentle. On the face of it we seem to be worse. Radford doesn't appear to know what his best team is based on his constant rotation and questionable selections, our defence is looking worse than last year and our attack looks just as clueless as in other years. His public criticism of players doesn't seem to be having any effect on the players other than on Ben Crooks who seems to be bereft of confidence. That's not good. Nor is his public admittance that he doesn't know what the problem with the team is or how to address it. It is a problem that has affected our previous coaches but Radford was supposed to be the man that had the answers.

Most crucially though, we currently sit 10th in the table and based on current form we're more likely to slip further down the table rather than up it. For a team that finished 6th for the previous two years that is not good enough. A change in coach should be for the better but that doesn't appear to be the case with Radford.

Now it is not up to me whether Radford goes or not. It is AP's decision and his alone. If Radford stays then I hope he can turn this around and show us why he got the job in the first place. But whether he stays or goes, the man in charge needs a good background staff supporting him. Based on what is available on the club website we look light in this area compared to other clubs. We've got some great training facilities but without the staff then we're hindering ourselves.

On the playing front, the squad we have is largely the same team that finished 6th two years on the bounce and that is the level we are at. If we are to become a top club then in the long term we must rid ourselves of the players that have been guilty of the complacent, halfhearted, efforts that we have seen in the past. Players like Shaul and Westerman give their all every week for the team and these are the players we must keep and encourage others to follow their example. If they can't then they should leave at the earliest opportunity. More importantly though, in the short term we must simply stop this slide we are currently on, find a way to dig deep and turn these results around. If we don't, I fear the worst for our season and the club as a whole.

Nail on the head

Given that we've worked our way through a whole load of coaches over the last ten years, and the same problems have kept occurring, I think it's fair to assume that the coach isn't entirely the problem.

Personally, I think we've settled for mediocrity for too long. Gone are the days when we went out and bought Barnett, Jason Smith, Prescott, Kearney etc. Fitzgibbon and O'Meley were probably the last examples, and they were coming to the end of their careers. This started under Sharp, continued under Agar, when we were using our Ozzie quota for players like Cusack, Byrne, Dykes etc who were either physically shot or no better than the players we could have found at Halifax, Doncaster, Batley etc.

I like Pearson's idea of bringing through a whole load of youth players, and hopefully it will free up money to supplement them with some really big signings. But then I do wonder about Pearson... He talks a lot about Wigan and their set up but they have dozens of support staff, focusing on every area of the team and the club. We have none of that, and don't seem to be trying to rectify that.

What I don't like, and haven't liked since it was announced, is the appointment of Radford as coach. For me, he was one of our most indisciplined players - and now, lo and behold, the discipline of the team on the pitch is shocking. That Rankin penalty at the start of the second half on Saturday summed it up for me. That reminded me of the sort of penalty Radford used to give away himself.

We all recognise there is a problem with the culture of the players at the club - only here for the beer etc - so to appoint somebody who has been an integral part of that culture as the head coach was asking for trouble in my opinion.

It was never going to work, but I thought it might go marginally better than this. Now it's falling apart he's thrashing around.

Can somebody explain to me how you can loan Arundel to Bradford - who will be eyeing us up as a team to overtake if they get their points back - and then a fortnight later pick a winger at centre and moan about how few centres you've got?

IMO Pearson has to bite the bullet, get on the plane, go to Australia with a blank cheque and bring back an experienced, hard line, successful Australian coach. Not an assistant coach, a coach. Somebody proven. It will cost the absolute earth, but it's going to cost him more in the long run through lost ticket money, lost merchandise money, lost prize money and money frittered away on loads and loads of signings like Liam Colbon and Jason Crookes if he doesn't do it.

Everyone agrees that the club needs a change in culture amongst other more tangible things and it's disappointing that after almost 3 years under pearson we're not further on than we'd like. Where some seem to disagree is who is the best man (coach) to help implement these changes. Some say radford, some not. My take on it is that radford may well be the man but entrusting him with it is a major risk and one I don't think the club can afford to take. He may turn out to be a great coach but at this stage his abilities are unknown. Would you trust a major change project within your organisation to someone with no experience or would you bring in someone with a proven track record? Entrusting it to a first time coach with barely any time as an understudy is asking for trouble. I hope pearson wises up quickly and brings in someone with a proven track record. I don't mind if radford stays to learn from him but unless pearson want to be looking at financial meltdown then he needs to act

I can fully understand that point of view. But if not Radford, who?