I'll start with a plea to not make this about Agar. Just this one thread.

Horrendous start and looked like Danny Brough was going to rip us a new one at first. Our rubbish discipline just piggy-backed them up the field. However, we stuck with it and I thought Lauaki's first spell was top notch and he made a huge impact on the game.

Other positives for me were the return of Horne, who, apart from his kicking game (of which more later), looked like a big step up from Turner at 6. Towering effort from Fitz I thought too. And better use of Manu from the bench. Obst brought something to the party today too, in fact, kicking apart, I thought we matched them in the halves and that had been my major concern before the game. We need more minutes from Sam, without a doubt, as he looks a threat every time he gets the ball.

I thought the differences between the 2 sides were Crabtree, who I thought was great today and played a lot of minutes, and the kicking game. We kicked straight to the fullback or winger on their 20 for the vast majority of last tackle plays, whereas they forced at least 3 drop outs, created 3 tries and generally caused us to play deep in our own half at worst. I know Brough is probably the best executor of long kicks in the competition but it was a huge gap today and something we desperately need to work on.

But after all that, at least an improvement vs last week. I thought we were still very much in it at 14-10 tbh and with a couple of individual errors ironed out could have won the game. But we didn't. Must win next week. I'd be happy with this 17 on Friday.

We do not value the ball, we haven't done for many years now. There seems to be an attitude of "Oh well, we lost the ball but we'll get it back in six".

Discipline is also an area of major concern (valuing the ball again), far too many games have been thrown away by piggybacking the opposition up the field.

Thought was better effort from the boys and better performances from Westerman (except when he lost the ball which led to their last try), lauaki and manu from the bench . Still strange decisions like hardly any minutes from Sam and none from Washy . Crabtree and brough were good for them rest were ordinary . Our kicking was shocking and let us down again

I found it odd that Horne was practically begging Obst to take the kicks for touch but then was happy to put in kicks in general play. At one Point Obst had to run from one side of the pitch to the other because Horne wouldn't kick the penalty to touch.

Didnt Westerman belt one 50 yards ?

Maybe got told not to do that again

Good effort from the boys. Best i've seen hame play in a long while. Thought obst showed some good signs. Need more pace at fullback when attacking out wide. Think were showing some good signs of turning the corner.
Finally, thought rain came at the wrong time for us, with 15 minutes to go. Slowed the game down a hell of a lot.

naturally disappointed but thought we played a little better today. Some harsh decisions and i reckon if we had played at home we might have won (ref easily swayed).
Kicked off the pitch by Brough, and although Horne's kicking was terrible was good to see him back. Thought Obst played well as well as the usuals, Tickle disappointing for me.

One win and then we'll be ok

Our choice of kickers is baffling, why doesn't Whiting get more involved in this? Especially when we need distance.
Also, as Hutchie mentioned, Westerman boots a penalty 50 yards to touch and we score, yet next penalty its given to Obst. We need better leadership on the field.

Thought we played a lot better today, all over the field. Couple of 50\50 offside decisions the difference

There was a minute period in the first half when we actually threw causion to the wind and chucked the ball about a bit. Also, the start of the second half, same thing. We made yards and had it not been for some over safe play, 3 times I counted today whne we had a significant over lap.

This is not a finger of blame being pointed, but during the 2 periods in the game we managed to make some ground, Lee Radford was sat on the bench. I reitterate, this is not a go at Lee, just seemed very coinsidental that when we got back level and Radford came off the bench, had he been intructed to play it safe with the one up drive (which usually found us gaining minumal ground) from the coach?

Horne's kicking needs to be addressed!

Whiting needs practice under the high ball.

There were some 50/50 calls. Not saying we deserved to win, but would like to see the "offside" try, and Agar mentioned a forward pass for one of theirs.

We really need to get the kicking game sorted out. As said we have a number of players that can kick long, Whiting, Westerman, Houghton, Tickle, and Horne and Obst that can go short. We need better organisation, definitely.

How did Rich Horne go kicking apart ? Did he look back up to scratch physically after his well documented issues ?

Thought he did pretty well considering his lay-off.

I said most of last season and the same this season, we dont have anybody taking control on tackles 3,4 and 5. Nobody seems to want to take the responsibility of dictating what happens next.

As an aside I thought Houghton took a few bad options today. We had one really good moment when we created a 3 man overlap and he took the ball back inside and took the tackle for instance.

Thought he looked pretty lightweight and it took until well into the second half before he seemed to have the confidence to take a tackle. Looks a shadow of his former self but hopefully with time he will improve.

Bit worrying for him his strength was a big part of his game as well as speed.

50/50 calls? Hull got their fair share, including the penalty that led to Westermans massive kick and your try. Very dodgy penaltyh for a high tackle and he then ignored all the head shots from Hull the rest of the game

And what about giving a penalty to Hull for offside when Hudds knocked on, a Giants player came from behind to pick up the ball. Sure it was a scrum, but a penalty?

Hulls goal line defence was superb, whereas Hudds was worryingly flimsy, but apart from that the Giants didnt need to get out of second gear to get the win.

First thing I noticed about him was how thin his legs looked compared to how they used to be. Not that I usually look at players legs or anything

Must admit I thought twice before asking how he looked physically.

Horney didn't do anything of note for me

The first 5 penalties of the game went in your favour and most were for apparently holding down, some of which Hicks should be embaressed about. You definately got the better of the decisions in the game but as you say you didn't really need them as you were awful for large parts and still better than us.

We showed a marked improvement on the previous 2 games, especially in defence. There are signs that with a proper 6 and 7 we will become a far better attacking side too. Still a lot of room for improvement, but we should be definitely winning on Friday night.

Sharp looked very god for you, a good signing IMHO. With Sharp and Briscoe you should be trying more attacking kicks to your wingers.

There was a lot of effort put in by your players today, no sign that they werent playing for the coach.

Lots of work by Obst although Horne should not have been playing looked to me to be off the pace ( which with his lay off is hardly surprising) he also seemed about two stone lighter.

Fitzgibbon is just a complete workhorse. With a half back who can kick you are not too far way from being a top 8 team.

Glory be!

Thanks for the words of encouragement