Galea is gutted to be leaving rovers and had prepared for retirement rather than go to another club,but life has to go on and when an offer comes in,whether it be from hull or anyone else you have to be sensible about it.The guy is rovers through and through and if he hasn't already signed for hull and rovers came up with a reasonable offer he would stay.!!

Galeas been great for us, at the end of the day he wasn't offered a good enough deal by Rovers, the guys still got to earn a living, so if another club comes in then you take that offer.
I will certainly give him a cheer next season.
As I said earlier in the thread, its a strange signing given AP's insistence that Hull will only sign the best young English players,

Ben is free to do what ever he wants after we said we couldn't extend his deal due to lack of game time.
No problem there IMHO.
However if he is at FC next year and he has a similar/worse injury record then the FC fans who are now laughing at folks who are saying there is a good chance that he won't be cost effective can't then get upset if Rovers fans say 'Told you so'.
They probably will but they will fail to see how silly that would be.

AP said MOSTLEY young english so you can put this one to bed

It's a little bug bear of yours, cute though.

Didn't hkr offer him a deal?

tbh I couldn't care less, good luck to the bloke.

Lots of unhappy Rovers fans at this decision and quite a few Hull fans not overly happy with the signing.

Ben Galea has been a brilliant player for Rovers.
He wanted another 12 months on the wage he is currently earning.
Rovers considered his age and the need to upgrade the contracts of some of the youngsters who have been blooded this season and offered him a 1 year deal at around 50% of that wage.
Ben decided this wasnt acceptable so 5 fantastic years comes to an end.
Why not just remember his contribution on and off the field.

If Hull think they can get value out of Ben for 12 months on a wage both parties deem acceptable then fair play to him.
You are a long time retired.
He has a young family therefore if faced with going back to Oz and getting a job like the rest of us at say 30k a year or signing for Hull and getting upwards of 70k for an extra 12 months doing a job you love then its hard to argue with that.
Yes i know its Hull FC but he is hardly going to have the same affinity with them as he has built up with Rovers.
Then there is the question of how often he will be available for selection next season.
Time and Tide waits for no man but if he stays fit Hull have made a fantastic signing.
If not its a 12 month gamble only that didnt work out.
And Ben has an extra 12 months to work out what his future entails.
I personally think he would make an excellent coach.

Not really a bug bear, but I do like to reel it our every now and then

Fair point, the money is the rider here.

Good luck to him!

Galea has been great for us it's just a bit gut wrenching why can't we offer him asst coach if Chester is going

I think most accept we will do well to get 50% of games out of him, kinda rains on your bonfire that don't it

Good luck Ben, He has been the player we needed at the club, but as posted we need to upgrade contracts for the youngsters comming through & as has been stated Rovers are having to watch the pennies & get the most out of what we have. I expcect that Ben would have been on a good deal & given his recent injuries we have not been getting the best return on that money. FC seem to have the cash & to them it will be a calculated risk.
On the down side we are rebuilding the squad & as posted in other threads Rovers will need a leader next year & the only person at the moment seems to Dobson which worries me as IMO he will have enough on his plate dealing with his own game.
There are a few worrying things on the player front Just look at Wakefield playing yesterday, full of ex rovers players that were deemed not good enough for us, Mariano, Ellis,Fox, Cockayne. they are playing at leeds next weekend Rovers are playing beach cricket somwhere. But as ever I will be back next season to see what happens as it Rugby I watch & I do it at Craven park.
To Ben good luck & thanks for the tremendous effort I hope you have a good season & as I support all Hull teams I will be cheering for you except for the obvious few games.

if you mean to France, that was Netherton on a wind-up.

~£70k for a 34 year old Ben Galea is about right. The captaincy would have been less of an issue (its importance is overstated, but that's a personal opinion) and if he'd moved to 13, Lovegrove could have slotted into the prop rotation.
But then you need to save that £70k elsewhere.
I can't think of any silly retentions or new signings [ithis year[/i. Hall and Lovegrove I'm pleased with, players like Salter are the future. Burns, Gleeson and Tuimavave are needed to fill different roles. So it comes down to Paterson and Galea. It's hard, but Paterson is certainly the more forward looking option - only time will tell. I just can't help but think of Stanley Gene's 2009 - though obviously he was 54 then, not 34.

Now I do like the Stanley Gene of 2009, and then I like the Galea of 2013, but which one do I like best?
There's only one way, oh sod it that's so last year

You mentioned it once on here and on our board, but am not biting this time

Spoil sport

No substance whatsoever, Gentle just annouced at the POTY awards he has extended his contract at the KC by another year, keeping here until 2015.

Didn't realise we had a team in the 90's. I's always thought HKR started in 2007. Silly me.

just been reading about Ben Galea seems a sad state of affairs that he is leaving Rovers for FC. I wonder how many more are thinking of doing the same. Is this some kind of Paul Cooke get back from Adam Pearson. Still like the look of our signings over theres though. I think Hudgell/sandercock has gone back to passion for next season. Fancy three derby wins for 2013.

I doubt it very much.

It's nothing like the Cooke situation. If anything it's more like the Chris Chester or Shaun Briscoe moves. Player see's out contract and moves on.

You have been in your car a bit too long if you don't see the quality in Hulls Signings to date.

I'll have a tenner with you that your derby prediction is wrong. [size=50unless you mean three derby wins for Hull FC[/size

I think galea is a fantastic player but it is exactly the right time to let him go.

We kept vella a year to long and if we'd kept galea it'd have been exactly the same situation. injured half he season and us suffering for it. I'll wish him good luck but can see another injury hit season for him and fc .

After the London game I witness one of Rovers lady fans give Benny G a hug and thank him for his time at Rovers, but then she added the next time she sees him he will be the enemy. She was serious. Benny G's face dropped. In that fleeting moment I got the impression his move across the city hit home. There's no sentiment in 'ull lol!