I think he made a massive mistake when he said he doesn't know what to do about it. It's so clear that the team are targeting certain games this season & he can't come out and say that.

Yet Radford is given no credit for getting the team right mentally to bounce back from the weekend and despatch the current cup holders with ease. If he's accountable for our attitude on Saturday then he's equally accountable for it tonight.

I do think radders is to honest at times , maybe doesn’t do himself no favours at times but I like to see it . Maybe he should just sidestep some questions like a lot of coaches do .

Yes he does deserve some credit. But in professional sport, the minimum you should always expect is effort. Getting it right tonight doesn't excuse last week.

Tonight was when it mattered, last weeks defeat did no damage to us, if we'd have lost tonight, then half of our seasons objectives would be over.

The double is still well and truly on.

Have to disagree with you Giddyupfella.

That second half demonstrated that one team are up for the Challenge Cup Final and the other sees the Grand Final as their aim.

As a neutral I feel that the integrity of the game is compromised.

Players or coach, players or coach?
The thing is no one outside the camp will no for sure, we can only speculate, but this week Radford and the players deserve to be credited and as pleasing as it was it does not excuse last week.
One thing I did notice tonight, not seen or noticed by me since the Pritchard days and subsequent cup winning seasons is the players huddle. Whilst Sneyd was there kicking the goals they were there geeing each other up, that's definitely a player thing.
Get that winning mentality back with consistency and who knows where we'll go.
I might then think Radders is a top coach not just distinctly average

You think the cup holders didn't want to win it again? Seriously?

Cas fan here mate and I couldn't have put it better. Hope you get the winners of Bradford V Halifax game

Cracks papered over for another week at least.

we all know who will get the winners of that game

In the modern game, the 2 competitions come down to knock out rugby. Provided FC finish in the top 5, we’ve proved we can do it to the best. Only Saints have done us.
Canterbury used to finish low down in the qualifiers but wiped the floor with opposition in the play offs regularly. Only a matter of time.
Did you whinge when Leeds won from 5th?

LR has his fans 30%
Jury still out 50%
LR and AL out 20%

I reckon that’s near the split

Even though,we tonked Catalans last night, my opinion of Radford AND his staff has not changed.. nor will it..
I feel Radford has not the man-management skill to consistently instill a team psychological mentality, (playing well one week, then a dire performance the next..)
His attitude of, "not me Guv', is a sure way of saying, he cannot manage players
and unite them into a team.It is the Team Manager's job ,to create a team mentality,that's his responsibility.

However... this is fruitless, as LR is bulletproof, true.. he has masterminded the club to back to back CC winners, but... he is also responsible, for record defeats..

IF fans, think a new influx of players will change the team attitude/mentality, maybe short-term, but long term ..no...IMO.

I totally agree and LR has many times suggested he has no real idea how to fix the inconsistency nor why it happens. That's not the definition of a Leader.
Just look at the 2014 and 2015 seasons as well.
It was very interesting to note the SKY commentary team inc pitchside reporters. They constantly discussed FC's inconsistency and it was clear it frustrated them and they're not FC fans.
It simply doesn't make sense to be so wildly inconsistent and we are WILDLY inconsistent. People don't like it - it demands a resolution in your sub conscious.

I guess we will see, how this season and next goes, finishing top 5 and final appearance would be a good season, with the squad we have.

With our squad for next season, if we add 3 more forwards, plus retain a couple, we should be challenging Warrington and Saints again.

There is a no guarantee that a new coach would be better, you just have to look at leeds and Wigan for that.

As it stands I still think Radford is the right man, I would however like to see him add to his coaching staff for new ideas, although that probably won't happen now with the split of the academies.

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Bit tongue in cheek this, and it may need it’s own thread ?
but, if Radders is ensuring our Hull FC use minimum energy prior to a games he targets, as a part of a genuine plan to win those games he targets as “really must win” games.....
....then, ( if you’re old enough to remember) it’s a bit like Muhammad Ali’s “rope a dope” tactics,
Where we take a huge rest and a bit of a beating one round, and the next round we give it everything from the energy we’ve stored away to blow away the more tired opposition in the game he targets. ??

It must be hard for the opposition to be fully switched on when they’ve just seen us get torn apart like a rag doll in the previous game.
Then the real FC stands up and puts their lights out.!! Big style. Well that’s what I think I’ve just seen.
So, am I witnessing an amazing deception that is a coaching or game planning masterclass. Patented by an outstanding Coach.? With new generation thinking ?
Or am I barking up the crazy tree?

With hindsight, I must say I was beside myself at the manner of the loss at Magic. But....if we could see Radders brain ticking over and it really was saying “trust me, Ive just seen Cats give everything to squeeze over the line against Trinity, so we can lose this one v Hudds for no real harm done and we’re in the semis “
The above being the case, I would definitely have taken that rather than being sat here today having beaten Hudds at magic, but paying the price by just been beaten ourselves by Cats in a gallant defeat.

In the future I think I may just trust Radders and wait patiently for the outcome, because it could be that he’s bringing a new unconventional dimension to game planning that over the course of a season may even be looking at preserving more energy than most for 3 big knock out games in October.

That's the way I see it too. I do think he made a mistake saying he doesn't know how to solve the inconsistency but then he can hardly come out after a game like last week & say "Ah well that's not the game we wanted to win, watch what we do next week in the game that matters".

Its still the same attitude,ideas etc from the same coaching staff, 3 more forwards, would improve the side, but for how long??

True, there are no guarantees in sport, but carry on with Lee Radford & co,the erratic performances will continue. Holbrook who took over from Cunningham has a win ratio of 80%

Regarding staff... a full-time skills coach, would be a start,instead of a part-timer

Well at least there’s 2 of us KDiddy, that’s a relief !!

It's not a deliberate tactic but we made a big thing in 2017 of coming out and saying that we weren't going to worry about where we were in the league so long as we were in the play offs at the end of the season and I do think this manifests itself in half ar$ed performances at certain times. Problem is that record defeats left, right and centre do damage to the fan base if we don't win any silverware to compensate.

I work with someone who was friends with Leeds Rhinos coaching staff when they were in their pomp. They definitely built training schedules to peak for cup weeks in the regular season with an objective to be firmly in the mix at season end - LLS being an irrelevance - then everything building to September and October preparation including wet weather aspects etc. It is physically and mentally almost impossible to put in maximum effort every week from February to October so choices and priorities were made. I'm not saying this is what we are consciously doing as we're not of that standard or GF experience, but as an approach, and given our added affinity to the cup, it sort of makes sense, especially after our 2016 experience. The magnitude of the hammerings is alarming but IIRC Leeds got 40-50 points put past them by Wigan and Saints they year they won it from 5th and got to the CC final - something like that. As said we're not in that bracket at all but it shows that it's possible, and for a squad like ours with some ageing players and dire injuries for the first dozen rounds, it would be an approach that gives us the best chance.

I agree with some of the points,regarding ageing players recuperation times between games..
When we came to the playoff games, we looked physically shot, maybe due to excessive defensive stints during the season,caused by poor ball control,and a lack of discipline..

I think the players are been a bit disrespectful to Radford and the fans everyone has off days but Hull seem to go from one extreme to another and when you’ve trained well all week then as a coach have to watch a performance like the Huddersfield one only 5 days later to put 50 on the cup holders it would leave me peed off as it seems there playing when they want to