Does Hull's signing of Ellis mean that they'll now be included in your helpful mini league table showing how the big guns are faring against each other? Come to think of it, I haven't seen it for a while. Would you mind updating it?

Hopefully Ellis will be as important to us than Jamie Peacock has been for you, I always find it odd you'd accuse a very good servant to your club to be 'topping up his pension'.

O'Loughlin, Wilkin and Tickle aye good one that.

I don't hactually think any actually have accused Ellis of that, and I am sure he will get a good reception when he runs out at headingley against leeds

If anybody has said that, they'd be a minority.

A fw have said he'd want to make sure the money was right in his last big contract, but I doubt any Hull fan would disagree with that.

But hey, if you want to invent stuff in order to give yourself something to argue with, knock yourself out.

Its sad for Hull fans that them winning a CC final 7 years ago is the only leverage point they have over Leeds.

They've had plenty of our rejects in the last few years: Carvell, Dowes, Raynor etc.

Spending money willy-nilly on players like Seymour, McKinnon & Westeman (s) does smack of desperation.

You'd have thought they'd ploughed some cash into their youth system, looks like Tom Briscoe's had enough - he obviously doesn't think they are 'ambitious' - perhaps it is the ££££ and the relationship from Wests with Gentle that swayed Ellis.

He will be 31 by the time he gets to Hull - no spring chicken.

As for Leeds - someone better will crop up - and if not, why not put that money into Chisholm, Keinhorst, Ward, Hood, Singleton etc?



Hull FC are the Stoke City of Rugby League, and Ellis is their Peter Crouch.

I would take Westwood over Ablett, but I wouldn't swap Ablett for ANY of those others mentioned, never in a month of sundays. And it's pretty close on the Westwood issue.

Delaney, I'll agree with you in respect of some of those names. Not Tickle, Wilkin, and Menzies though. And I really don't see the big thing about this Whitehead either. He may well turn out good in the future, but I am not seeing anything at the moment to suggest he is any better than most backrowers in the league.

do you watch any nrl or are you just listening to what everybody is saying about ellis? yeah no doubt he is a very solid good 2nd row, but o'loughlin is a leader, playmaker and better in attack than ellis, but ellis in my opinion is probably the best and most consistent defensive 2nd rower in the world, but hull are making to big of a deal of this signing the skelton to any champion side is 1,6,7,9 just look at melbourne packs if anything there is teams in superleague with packs alot better.

hull wont win superleague because of this signing and the talk of better signings will happen because of ellis? really are you sure? probably took a massive pay to sign him on top of that i cant see any superleague signing any really top qaulity aussies any time soon.

This place is funny. Perhaps I should come here more ....

With you on this, Gotcha. Ablett must be one of the most under rated players around.

living in Barnsley and supporting 'Ull.....you're twice blessed brother, nothing for you here!

I just never understand why oppossition fans, christ even some of our own, seriously undervalue what Ablett does for us. There is some good backrowers in this competition, and as I mentioned Westwood is a seriously good one, as will be Ellis, but Ablett is a match for anyone, and outstanding player.

Riiigghhtt. So, if Hull's support is so loyal, how come there's an 8 page thread over on your board bemoaning the drop off in support since 2006?

Only saying like fickle as f@@k

Opposing fans' views of our players ceased to amaze as soon as it dawned on me how many harbour a near psychotic belief that there's no quality whatsoever in the 5xGF winning team.

I don't recall too many of our own slating Ablett but neither does he seem to get the praise he deserves. TBH I'm not convinced that swapping him for Westwood would pay off. Benny's good, but who knows what he'd be like if removed from his comfort zone at Wire. Ellis, on the other hand, has proved he can move between good sides and maintain form so I expect he'll go well at Hull. And best of luck to him.

I think some are missing the point that it is JJB, Ablett, Delaney as a unit that are the best currently in SL and a big reason for Leeds's success so far this year. So in a team game like RL having Ellis without 2 other top backrowers will not achieve the same performance that the Leeds 3 are achieving. IMO of the 3 it is Delaney that is the most underated.

Every team has at least one player that is vastly underrated by opposition supporters because the player doesn't grab the head lines or produce eye catching moments. You have to watch them closely to see the impact they make and watch them every week not just see them 4 or 5 times a year when on tv where Eddie and Stevo just big up the usual suspects and not others. Us Leeds fans are just as guilty of under rating players from rival teams as well.

And we wonder why oppossition fans are mocking?

Delaney is making more metres, more carries and more tackles more busts and more marker tackles than Ablett so far this season. Given that we agree that Ablett is a top player why can't you see the value of Delaney when he is putting in even greater performances than the superb Ablett each week?

Opposituon fans can be excused from being ignorant of these facts but what is your excuse?

Because you are seriously obssessed by pish poor stats, and don't seem to be able to form an opinion on a player without them.

Delaney is an absolute perfect example of why you don't judget a player by stats alone. To suggest he is contributing anything close to Ablett as key to this team just because of stats, is quite frankly laughable.

Here's a key stat for you that is not on the super league site. How many passes has Ablett made that has resulted in line breaks for a team mate, and how many has Delaney made?

Ablett is vastly underrated. When Ellis left many on here said that Ablett was his internal replacement. I think thats true, although he may not have reached the heights Ellis did, he has achieved at lot, at the same time as juggling 3 positions. He's also a niggly fekker which pleases me

I agree - most underrated player in our squad and arguably the most underrated in SL. Opposition (and some of our own) fans seem to have a skewed opinion based on the fact that he's a solid/dependable centre. For some reason they then seem to think that means he can't be an outstanding player in his actual position.

It's also worth noting that he's 4 years younger than either Westwood or Ellis.

Agree

Cracking player, seems to get under the oppos skin too

Complety agree, always been one of my favourite players and always liked the look of him as a player since his academy days. He is vastly underated by opposition fans, which isn't important, the peoPle who matter rate him and he has been rewarded with several winners medals and England squad call ups.

With regard to Delaney I personally think he is having a good year in the second row and plays like someone I like to watch. Plays hard tackles hard, makes meters and doesn't take backward step. That said I prefer ablett but he does offer our team something.

Your predudice is getting in the way of your judgement. You are quite wrong as I do form opinions based on my own judgement which is often expressed before the stats are available and I have seen with my own eyes Delaney making better metres than the other forwards including the props. I have seen with my own eyes Delaney making a JJB like number of tackles and busts each game including several important 1 on 1 tackles in the WCC. Because I have backed up my judgement with stats and you cannot, you then seek to disparage those stats. The statistics record performance and show clear trends and workrates.

What is laughable is to suggest Delaney is not "contributing anything close to Ablett as key to this team" when he is our top performing forward by most measures.

Ablett maybe underrated by some but certainly not by me and I believe most knowledgable Leeds fans have rated Ablett very highly for many years now. Delaney was not rated by many as a centre (including me) but since moving into the back row has been outstanding. I do not see the point in trying to suggest one is better than the other as I have said it is their impact as a unit (together with JJB) that is most impressive.

Yes Ablett is more creative and yes Delaney has a better go forward and workrate but both are making equally important contributions for Leeds I suggest.

Would agree both offer something different and that makes for a good balance in the team.