Hopefully with 2 Scrum halfs signed we should never see Horne play 7 again, his form should improve when he can play his natrual game.

He needs to get himself 100% fit in the off season and hopefully Gentle won't play him if he isn't 100%.

I don't see any better stand offs available for next season at the moment.

You describe decent reasons for giving him a one-year deal, two was unforgivable IMO.

I agree, but I doubt he would have accepted a one year deal though.

Lack of quality players here and abroad for next season means the advantage is with the players.

The old regime awarded him 2yrs which does not surprise me really. It will be interesting how this is viewed under the new regime. Although his performance has improved lately he is just average.
1 yr for loyalty, fine
2 yrs criminal!

Exactly, we'd have gone into next season with 1 half and two youngster.

Oh I forgot where signing Chase.

6 and 13, yes. I think he played 9 in one international (which I'd completely forgotten about), and which was a ridiculous selection anyway. Never seen him play 7.

The guy is a 13 who can do a good job at 6. He's not a utility by any stretch.

Superfluous wording removed.

I would use Horney as a utility player next year. He can cover full back if McKinnon gets injured, centres, in the halfbacks and dare i say it loose forward! Im pleased we have another hooker coming. Showed up last night with Leeds having Buderus and Burrows

Agree, plus Horney has a tad more speed than Rich Whiting so could cover the wing as well.
If he gets his hernia sorted out out then who knows he may yet get a half back role next year, but I won't hold my breath. He's done well recently, but against top opposition he just can't open them up any more and last night was more evidence. So for me this great servants future is only as back up as per Maxi's post.

re the "battering rams" I feel that only OMeley (who fought a lone battle last night), and Moa are worth keeping, we do need to be ruthless and now that Dowes and Leuaki have gone I feel the old warhorse Radford should have his contract paid off too. None of them, O Meley, Moa apart ever make a dent in the opposition big men, because they are no longer top 4 team props. and sometimes OMeley doesn't look like he is, but then neither would I if I felt it was a forlorn cause. Add to that he was hurting really badly last night that his best mate here Cammy has been shown the door. He really wanted him to be the squads utility threequarter/full back as he was at Wigan.

I saw a real difference in the raw power, muscle and size of the Leeds big men yesterday with Kylie Leuluai setting the tone, for the rest to follow. So it was Omeley Moa versus Peacock, Heuraki, Bailey, Kirke, Lauititi, oh and Leuluai. We were just overran with power. In the end I felt the fight just drained from our pack, and then sadly the whole team. We badly need another 2 big men signings on top of O'Carroll and Lynch ( if he comes)
Out - Dowes, Radford, Leuaki, Washy In - O'Carroll, Lynch, + 2 more.

Giving us a main pack squad of ;(ignoring our 2 hookers next year) Moa, OMeley, O Carroll, Lynch tbc, +AN other No1, +AN Other No2, Manu, Tickle, Westerman - then maybe we can start to compete in the big men stakes with the present top 6 sides.

Other way around for me, the centre position is far more influential than the winger. I'd go so far as to say that if your centre is good enough you can get by with any half decent winger. Look at how good Gleeson and Gidley made Fa'afili and Gardner look.

If we get the right calibre of centre in it will shore up the right side defence far more than another winger would.

Good post. Our forward pack hasn't been strong enough and certainly isn't top 4. Catalans pack was awesome against R****s and could easily cause more problems yet in this play off series. We have lacked raw power and without that basic ingredient it's always going to be tough.

He has played 6, 7, 9, and 13 for Leeds.

The problem with Horne is that he's pretty much our only support player. When he does create anything there's no-one in support as was evident on a few occasions last night. Our support play is virtually non existent, has been for years. It's not just an Agar issue, I remember asking Peter Sharp about this at a fans forum together with our outside back shortage and we know how long that took to be addressed and how it turned out!

nail on head there, somehow Horne has become one of the scapegoats this season.

Agreed, particularly disappointing as the club had hyped up our supposedly monstrous pack, which has never played to it's postential

Postential? A good made up word that describes our pack of this season , potency that [ihas been[/i?


It annoys me as well when Sky go on about our big nasty pack??????

Interesting that It may annoy you that sky go on about hulls big nasty pack.Correct me if iam wrong wasn't the league going to be beat up by the tongan mafia,as christened by your fans.??

Manu (our Player of the Year) has had an outstanding season and should have made the Dream Team.

Moa has had a good season too.

Only Lauaki is the weak link.

Of course, after watching the likes of Jason Netherton every week, you should know all about great forward play.

People use silly names at times, Andreas Bauer was a 'rough diamond' according to Morgs!

When we played decent packs without Fitz our balance was all wrong. We could afford to have O'Meley and Moa starting when we had Fitz available but without him for the last 20 mins of the first half a pack containing Radford,Dowes, Lauaki and Washbrook offered nothing.

Totally agree Hollywood, even a full compliment of international centres and halves will look distinctly average behind a toothless pack, which I honestly think is what we have had this year. It only takes 3 new names and the whole look and feel is different. Easier said than done I know, but if we can believe Adams November promise ?

But without doubt we need more grunt and aggression. Even if we can't dominate every forward battle against the present top 6 we at least need to be going in against them toe to toe, with the same firepower.

Adam please buy us 2 big bruising battering rams. and lets get a pack thats really feared, then we can build a real team.

I still think Sunday showed that the pack isn't our main problem, we got into as many positions as Leeds to score, but we couldn't convert them.

Halfbacks is the main issue, hopefully this will be addressed with the 2 halfback signings needed.

Our attacking options and last play kicking against the big sides this year has been pathetic.

Next year's pack does look a little light so far though, we need at least 2 more signings there.

I agree with that also Dave, The pack is definitely not our only weakness. We simply run out of ideas in the last 1/3rd on 5th 6th tackles. We do need that key to unlock the defence and hopefully Seymour will do it for us. If we bust the bank for Chase then I think it's a deffo we'll find the missing key which is why we're so desperate for his unique skills. He can transform us just the way Topliss did. Also, Seymour is very highly praised in NRL for his defence so would be a great partner for the attack minded Chase. I think Ellis has his best days to come and will learn off Seymour. Whilst with Rich Horne, for me, the sun is starting to set on his great service to Hull FC and I feel even with a successful hernia op I'm seeing next year as his first as a non starter on the team sheet even when fully fit if we are serious about breaking the top 4.