In which case your mate is an idiot.

KR's new song "You will never WIN @ Wollongong"

Well 'clueless'

but you would expect Seb to have mates like that, wouldn't you?

Good point I saw on Twitter:

Fr. Phil Lamb
Twitter › PhilLamb9

2pts lost. But invaluable networking & contacts made in Oz for Hull FC. Generating interest in the club from none supporters of the game & seasoned rugby league fans of NRL. Don’t be distracted by the negative green eyed comments by those of other clubs. Priceless for Both clubs.

From what I’ve seen the primary detractors are those with the most to lose from the top tier expanding its global reach.

I’ve seen fans of Saints, Wire, Wakey, Cas etc trying to belittle the concept and it smacks of jealousy. That game this morning will make both clubs a decent amount of money by all accounts and on top of that there has been increased media attention on both sides of the world. There’s been numerous articles on the game on the Sydney Morning Herald website and that’s big news.

The benefits of this game could be far reaching for both clubs. An example would be if either club are fighting with other superleague clubs for NRL players or English players. If you get offered the same wage at Saints, Warrington, Cas etc as what Wigan or Hull are offering then things like this would help sway your decision. As an Aussie/Kiwi you get a couple of weeks back home and as an English player you get to travel and see the world. The games are on tv in Australia and both clubs will now be in prime position to attract Australian sponsorship.

I can’t understand how anybody could see fault in this game.

There's no downside. Two of the biggest SL clubs raise their profile, get warm weather training and make £. The sport gets incremental media coverage. NSW tourism benefits. Fans get experience of a lifetime. Bitter Luddites get to bleat from the sidelines. Everyone wins.

Yeh totally agree , was embarrassing, thought he should of done better with both tries

The game was secondary in my opinion to all the off field work undertaken by both clubs in the week leading up to it.
That's where the rewards will come in future years.
Well done to Wigan for having the courage to take a punt. Glad AP has a good relationship with IL at Wigan which probably facilitated us being asked along. That and us being a big club now

I’ve seen a lot of Wigan fans moaning that they’re missing out on a home game. I decided against making the trip due to not having enough holidays at work so I missed out on that one extra Home game as well. As it was I sat at the DW this morning nice and warm with a brew in hand watching it on a big screen. We scored try, I got up and cheered, our players ran in to each other and I groaned. There was no real difference other then I was warm!

I go home and away and losing out on one live game won’t make much difference to me. The clubs sitting on their hands and not attempting to ‘grow’ could make a difference to me, if it means our best players walk away or any available talent decides to choose other clubs to sign for over us.

Lenagan is savvy! Hull were asked because your fans are fanatical nuts who’ll travel 12,000 miles in good numbers for a game! I know we got the boot (and rightfully so) for the pitiful numbers we took to Donny for the 2016 CC semi but our support for games like Catalans away and our WCC game against the Roosters in 2014 make both clubs attractive propositions for games like this.

I saw somebody in this thread say they hope Hull decide to take their game with us to USA or Canada next season. That would be brilliant! If both clubs could take 4,000/5,000 all the way to Australia then it could be double that in America or Canada.

I also think the close relationship that the clubs owners have is mirrored by Radford and Wane. The relationship between the clubs probably made this whole venture run a lot smoother!

Seems like Lenegan and AP are leading players in the chairmen's drive to take the sport forward. Vital that we're part of it as those that don't embrace change will be left behind.

Spot on. Going to be a pivotal couple of years in front of rugby league I reckon. Just glad that AP seems to have embraced the mantle of being a rugby league club owner, and seems keen in driving things forward. The two Challenge Cup wins won't have harmed his standing in the game.

Year after year, yeah 2 trips to Wembley back to back winners is getting a bit boring.

I Hear you
My thoughts are for those many fans who didn’t have too much to cheer particularly in the 2nd half
We were gagging for a fight back so we could roar the team on to victory
Errors really didn’t help and injuries cost us

Imo wigan looked lke a team who had played 6/7 games where as we looked like it was our 2.clearly the better team, but we tackled our hearts out and injuries didnt help. Though GRiffin was our best back and manu best forward, shaul gotta learn from that game to that you cant give a speedy winger that much room, Its only the second game and we will get better, What a turn out from the fc supporters well done,

Injuries i can take and it meant we didnt stand much of a chance

What i cant take though is the amount of dropped ball - we was worse than amateur in that department and made things 10x worse than it already was

The happy clappers on here can pat each other on the back saying valiant effort, great defense etc (whilst mocking Tim Sheens for doing the same) but almost everyone ive spoke to about our performance has described it as terrible. The fact that most can only single out Manu and Griffin as having good games says it all

Only the second game we have played so not gonna get to down. Doom and gloom club are the same as the happy clappers depends which wy you look at things, radders had it right when he said you win 2 matches your world beaters lose 2 and its a crisis,

Yes I bet one their gatherings is a real bundle of laughs!

I agree we were rubbish. But the comment from your mate was just wrong. The players tried very hard. Some of it was the disruption and tiredness caused by the injuries. Some of it may have been Wigan dealing with the distractions of the trip a bit better than us. Some of it was just straight up poor play. But the effort wasn't in doubt. If we couldn't be d it would have been 50.

We fought hard, we did some good things, we did some bad things. Wigan were better than us on the day. I cant get too worked up about it.

I think having perspective on a loss against a major rival doesn't make you a happy clapper. Just realism.
I wish I could have gone. Those that have gone would have had an amazing time I'm sure, regardless of the results of the two games.

Strange game. It felt almost like a friendly match at the beginning.

The Faraimo injury was critical, not because he got injured (injuries happen, and we've coped with Talanoa leaving the field before), but the time it took us to adapt. Connor to wing and Washy to Centre got ripped to shreds, even when Hadley went to Centre it didn't quite fix it. 2nd half Radders must have sorted it out, but a lot of the damage was done with Marshall's tries.

The injuries were a factor in the game of course, it was a strong Wigan side we were up against, and to play with reduced interchanges messes everything up and saps the energy of the forwards playing big minutes, particularly in that heat. However, the amount of errors in the tackle and penalties were unacceptable, plus I don't think we were creative enough, or took enough chances.

That said, the effort was huge. If being fair & acknowledging a huge effort from the players makes me a "happy clapper", then great.


Decent attendance, 8,000 locals attended according to reports, and a massive contingency from Hull. My Whatsapp suggests they're all having an amazing holiday, with the added bonus of seeing two RL matches. On to Sydney.

You did see Wigan dropping the ball on a regular basis, didn't you?

You did hear the commentry team mention how humid it was and there fore the ball will have been a bit like a bar of soap?

You do at least recognise that with a player off after 2 mins, another goes mid way into the first half, that rotation plans go out of the window and error rates are bound to increase do to fatigue?

It was a poor performance, but there were mitigating factors. Granted I'd be livid if that showing was with out the factors mentioned. But given the circumstances, its not something to get your knickers in a twist over.

.... you can probably add Scott Taylor to the list of mitigating factors, as he was feeling unwell before the game, apparently.