Word from Aus is over 12,000 tickets sold for tomorrow, with 2k travelling from Hull and approx 500 from Wigan.

That’s some turn out, fair play to those that have made the trip.

To answer an earlier post (& apologies if already mentioned), the trip isn’t financed by Wigan, but by the Illawarra Tourist Board I believe who’ll cover travel expenses for both sides through ticket receipts.

Rampant rabbit may be a more appropriate handle. You appear to have all the necessary attributes.

Best thing about this tour so far is how together the club feels.

Great to see young players getting the chance to experience even just training in the worlds hotbed of RL. Great to see legendary players like Swain and Sterling popping by with other ex players and coaches like O'Meley, Manu, Peter Sharp and Fonua getting involved.

Even if it does hamper our results in the short term in the long run it can only do good for the club in terms of exposure and also Aus/NZ/South Sea Island players hearing that HullFC is a good club to be a part of and may nudge them in to accepting our offer ahead of other clubs.

Good to see Pearson funding and planning a proper trip as well. In the Hetherington days you suspect they'd have flown in a couple of days before and stayed in some cheap hostel! And of course no sandwiches provided unless Kath said so!

Also shows how far the maturity of the squad and the discipline has improved. Instagram is full of the players chilling in Coffee Shops and at the beach. Previous FC squads would have spent the week on the lash!

Of course still need to get down to business and get a result tommorow. But a great sucess so far.

I'm sure John Kear would along with me appreciate the reference to the Sandwiches !!

As a club it's something I'm sure they're well aware of how important it is for all no matter how senior or junior that the impression for the locals and fans as well as the media is the very best it can be, they are representing not just the club but also the city of Hull to a degree.

Even if the on field performances/results themselves don't go as we'd like if the discipline is bob on and the down time is relaxed without any overt shenanigans then that makes it easier for any potential future visits and bonds and ties to be made that could benefit the club further down the line.
let's hope all the good preparation and a positive win against Hudds from last week is paid off by beating the pies, we need to be on it from the off as they looked really dangerous albeit against a poor Salford they still did the business.

And if 2000 FC fans have travelled that's a fantastic effort, only wished I could have gone.

Front page news in the local paper in Wollongong

Really don't like our shirt

Great post. Whatever the result tomorrow the trip has had a raft of positive outcomes.

I just tell it like it is, if you want to read bull, stick to reading what your mates on here tell you

I'm amazed by the passion for 'footy' as they call it here. We're staying in Wollongong and have been stopped so many times by locals and people in cafes and shops telling us all about their connections with local past players, local clubs, etc.

Today we went up the coast a few kilometres to Bulli (not the 'woolly' kind

) and the beach cafe that we had a coffee in had the paper on the counter and so many people talking about the game.

It's now two hours before kick-off, 25 degrees and the nerves are starting to kick in!!

COYH

https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/s ... wollongong "By any measure, the decision to take a competition game down under has been success. Reports state that the two clubs will walk away with £500,000 each from the tour" Wowzers!!

https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/s ... wollongong "By any measure, the decision to take a competition game down under has been success. Reports state that the two clubs will walk away with £500,000 each from the tour" Wowzers!!

.... that's what I'd heard a while ago, the decision to go was always financial.

Really good article IMO, a small piece of the expansionist agenda. IMO we're far better to be involved in trying stuff than detracting from the sidelines.

... looks like uk supporters will have forked out around £10m as well.

Hmmm, I doubt it's anywhere near that much. There was already a discussion on the VT which basically outed that figure as a nonsense, even Wigan fans were saying it was pie in the sky.
If the club net a high 5 or low 6 figure sum from it it'll still be a financial success at the very least

Absolutely. The fact that we've taken a squad of 27 suggests there's been a healthy budget to go at.

Softens the blow of losing 2 points a bit

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So injury wise houghton and watts have muscle tears - 4 to 8 weeks at a guess? connor has a pcl, whatever that means but played on. Anyone know anything about pcl injuries? is it just rest or will he need an operation? Others were just bangs so should be back for the cas game.

Danger now is we have a makeshift team for next week and get battered out of sight

PCL, posterior cruciate ligament injury, not sure how serious his is though

Hakim Miloudi on social media at Manchester airport. Could be visiting family in France obviously.

Carlos for Connor and Hadley for Houghton are decent replacements but Watts is in our top 3 players IMO and a huge miss.

Yeah I know what it is but not really heard much about how severe an injury to it is. Knee injuries always seem to be acl which generally requires reconstruction surgery

PCL can repair itself in a few weeks, unlike ACL which usually require surgery.

Obviously it depends on the severity, and whether there is other damage.

Apparently, you can injure your PCL but show no symptoms, probably why Connor continued playing.

I think were still suffering a big hangover from this trip. Half the team still thinks theyre on Manly Beach and havent come back down to eath yet or so it seems

......Did you see last Friday's game? I didn't realise it had been televised live.