Thought it was a good game today for a hit out, The best thing for me was Abdull performance, he could really be a good player for us this year, Connor just looks class, positive performance today imo,

Your right about Abdull but with a full squad where do you play him?
Connor in a different class.
Poor errors from Kick offs once again

Really pleased the the performance, if we could handle kick offs we would have won. Connor was the best player on the pitch, Rovers really struggled to handle him, scored two great try's and a hand in another, plus kicked a 40/20. What a talent.

Though the other two stand out where, Abdul and Hakim. Rest of the young players stood up well to a strong Rovers side.

Think Radford will be very happy, certainly a massive improvement on last year for the youngsters.

Really excited about this season and the future with the squad we have, what a great just the coaching staff are doing with the young players.

Miloudi looked to have a bit about him but his heads all over the place.

I didn;t go but good to hear we stood up well. Did connor sign a contract extension last year or was I dreaming it? If not we need to get him tied down long term. A real maverick but massively talented

www.hullfc.com/news/2017-10-26-c ... and-whites

www.hullfc.com/news/2017-10-26-c ... and-whites

Well to say we had our best 12 (Connor and Sneyd apart) players missing that was an excellent, if surprisingly close, result. And importantly just Litten with a knock. Radford will be very satisfied I reckon.

Thought so! Cheers

Thought Hull did well but Rovers too did have a whole host of automatic picks absent..plus 2 others leave the field early with injuries.

Hull were the more weakened though I would have to admit especially in the forwards so they stood up well. Abdull was IMO the best player on the pitch and if he sits out most games this season it will be a real waste. Still, if he should prove excess to your requirements there remains a place for him in the east of the city for sure. We enjoyed each others company in 2017 there is no doubt.

Two years ago Hull put us to the sword in this fixture and it really did send out a statement for both teams. This time it was a proper friendly apart from a brief punch up and everyone made up at the end.

Hull had a lot of quality missing today but rovers I'm not sure. Who was missing for you? If you don't pick up a few more quality players between now and the season starting you'll likely be bottom 4 at the split

Lunt and Donaldson the only ones who would make their starting line up looking at their squad today and full squad list

They could really struggle if they don't sign anybody else but who is available?

They had a few missing to be fair, but no where near the quality we had missing.

I reckon they had about 10 players playing from their 17, whilst we had 4/5.

Both centres aswell.

Fair enough. Still looks a weak squad

Good to see we can rely on our youngsters this season when needed, think a few will get an early chance v cas after the Oz trip

How did the 2 Doncaster players perform, Liam Harris & Connor Scott ?

Lunt Donaldson Hefferman Minns Scruton Jewitt will be in the 17 so not just the two

still dont think its good enough to make the 8


seeing the front page of one of the rugby papers, looks like the clubs have missed the deadline to alter the league structure, middle 8s beckon again i reckon

It's good that Radford is going in the right direction with respect to getting the younger/less experienced squad members game time as happened at beginning of last year (And a lesson learnt from 2016 and before). However when it came down to it we still were somewhat weakened when they had to play and this was noted by such like Kirk Dixon when he was commentating on our games.

Only Brad Fash really stood up level for me, the likes of Litten didn't get any game time barring literally a few minutes and the rest, well, Turgut hasn't impressed, sure he's an adequate replacement but he's nowhere near Hadley's level or indeed that of Brad Fash IMO. Matongo did ok but limited in minutes and needs to believe in himself (but could really be a big asset if he pushes on), Jack Downs again didn't get much of a look in and really isn't quite there yet so they (all) need to improve another notch and they can only do that by getting game time at a higher level, even more important since the under23s situation.

However the advantage we have this year is that we have three forwards (Paea, JA and Hadley) in exchange for a waning Ellis (who only started 15 games incl CC games) and Thompson, I think this is an improvement in overall quality and importantly depth.
If indeed JA gets to play 13 rather than waiting in the wings and Watts stays in the middle and Hadley as an interchange for Houghton/bolster the 2nd row then that's a really strong option.
The only thing that concerns me is what is happening with Josh Griffin, he really needs to have a strong start because for me he's still not as good an option in the centres as Connor and CT, so where does he play, second row, tbh we have better options there as well.

Shaul
Bureta
Connor
CT
Talanoa
Kelly
Syned
Taylor
Houghton
Watts
Manu
Minichello
Abdul

Paea
Green
Bowden
Hadley

I think that is a ridiculously powerful and talented XVII and is why in the VT prediction I've out us as winning the comp IF we can sort out our defensive frailties/mental preparation.

I like the team you put out but dont see Radford starting Abdull at 13.i think he will go for power using Watts or Manu with Dean Hadley starting in the second row.
I am not a fan of Griffin but would use him off the bench as an impact second row.
The concern for the club will be what to do with the fringe players to keep them all match fit.Not sure how many we can send to Doncaster on D/R as we have four on loan but these guys need to playing at a higher level.
I would certainly look to move out Turgut on loan.he is just not progressing and needs to be out like we did with Hadley.

You could be right the longer it goes on the more likely it is we'll be going with what we have

Given the power in the side I think we can have a ball handling 13 and really take advantage of our power wingers, getting the ball out wide quickly has never been one of our strengths, maybe JA could be that link player we've been looking for? I'd far rather do that then let JA effectively rot on the sidelines for much of the season unless injury strikes as that's not a good route to go down IMHO. IF we lose Kelly to injury or going forward after 2018 would JA and Sneyd be an effective combination, could in fact Connor become a 6 what with his attributes?

As I said I think JG needs to have a really strong start wherever he's given a slot or he could find himself being a bit part covering injuries. Given we have Logan also who when he actually got a chance was impressive it's going to be tough competition all round for everyone which should be good as players that are hungry/really wanting it can be the difference between winning and losing.

I still see that our mental fortitude last season was suspect too often and a significant part of our failures, if we can strengthen that, get players to stick to what works best instead of running about like headless chickens/going into panic mode then I really do think we have a shot at winning the comp. We certainly have the talent, I'd be so bold as to say we have one of the best starting XVII and a very very strong forward pack.

JA needs game time this season, it would be a waste and detrimental to deny him of that. He has the potential so I think we should give him a start or a sub at 13, certainly early on in the season to see how it goes. It's tricky because we're not sure if JA at 13 will gel with Sneyd and Kelly. It could be a clusterf:'ck but it could be a master stroke. I'd still expect us to revert to a prop at 13 come the business end of the season

Connor for me is a our stand-off when Kelly leaves (highly likely this will be 2019). If JA does a good job this year then who knows.... it looks like we have strength in depth going forwards.

But the point about giving our squad sufficient game time is a very valid one. Who'd have thought we'd be in this situation before Radford took over??!!

Agree we will struggle this season with current squad.

Absent from team - Heffernan, Minns, Scruton, Lunt, Jewitt, Donaldson, Lawler, Kavanagh, Walne and you may as well throw in Lee as he only lasted 2 mins.

Good post, I like your team, I think Abdul is ore likely to be on the bench, at least at the start of the year.

I don't think radford is learning, in 2016 the likes of Fash and Turgut weren't ready the play week in week out SL, last year they were, same with Litten and Downs last year and to some extent Masi, he is handling the players perfectly IMO.

I think people are writing Jansin off too early, I though he shown glimpses of what he is capable of last year, but was maybe too eager to please. I think he will go well, ran some really good lines yesterday and defended strongly.

On the game yesterday i though Logan had a good game in the 2nd half and caused Rovers a lot of problems.

We have such good options in the backs and forwards this year, I can see why you tipped us to finish top, I think the Aus trip might side track us a bit though and think we may end up 2nd.

Thoroughly enjoyed yesterdays game and the young guns have shown us in the performance yesterday how much effort and hard work has gone in over the last 12 months.
I thought they all stood up well even after going 12pts down there was no panic and they stuck to the job in hand and could have gone of to win it .
I thought JA looked very good and his loan spell has done him well along with Hadley. For me Connor just oozed talent and has that x factor which showed with the booming 40/20 and his one handed take in the air and touch down for his 2nd try. Logan showed up well and improved as the game went on.
Was also pleasantly impressed with Miloudi whilst at times looking bit erratic he shown signs of a talent in him.
Non of them took a backwards step and stood up to the plate and the future bodes well for the club.

Radford must be a very pleased guy with difficult decisions ahead for the coming season but ones he'll be glad to have for the right reasons.