Been hearing so much once again about how far ahead you are of where you should be in pre-season, how the players have been training the house down but Gentle said the team was treating this game as a SL fixture. Im not surprised alot of you are dissapointed and left early, by the sounds of it the scoreline flattered FC a little.

On the other hand and what people need to realise is that was your first hit out, loads of new players to gel, nowhere near upto match fitness yet and a new coach who will have brought in a whole new game plan/structure for the team to get used to. All this doesnt happen overnight.

As for Rovers, apart from the injuries we have had what seems to be a positive pre-season, nice break now for the team and can go into the Leeds game been quietly confident.

You'll notice I haven't argued against that at all.



As I've been saying all through the closed season, I'm confident that Gentle will deal with the situation appropriately. We finally have some options at HB and if Horne doesn't measure up then either Ellis or Niklas will get their chance. From what I've heard and read Niklas seems to have had the better start so far so maybe he'd be a better option ATM than Ellis?

I'm reasonably confident that this will have been looked at in training. ATM Gentle clearly thinks that Horne is the best option, but if that isn't how it pans out then I doubt he'll stick with Horne just for the sake of it.

Score flattered us how? We should have scored 3 tries before you were even in our half with the ball? Rovers have better strength in depth that's for certain, this is as a result of Agar not playing youngsters.

Of the points scored, the Green try was from a lucky bounce of the ball and we plenty of conversions

Your first try was from a dropped intercept and third was from a drop at fullback.....

I thought we started well for the first 10/15 minutes we seemed to have the majority of posession and field position, however we didn't put points on the board (an old failing). Then Rovers gained the upper hand after the interchanges began, they had what seemed like an age with the ball and we couldn't get out of our half when we did have it. However we defended well initially against repeat sets, but it was obvious we would eventually crack and we did. Then we started to make mistakes, turning over the ball and giving away cheap penalties (I thought I'd travelled back in time at one point!). We rallied for a while second half but it was short lived. Best side won, although at a cost. Both teams will need to improve dramatically based on yesterday's showing to make an impact on the competition this year

We said as much yesterday, 2 poor teams, no team showed us any combinations/players with any spark at this point.

Talk about a MASSSSSSSSIVE over reaction on here which doesnt come as a surprise in all honesty.

Personally I thought we were far better than the score line suggested.

The PTB was so slow thought a ton of our penalties came from the ref not understanding good tackling technique should be rewarded.

Its clear in the middle of the pitch our emphasis is having the 1st tackler stand up the ball carrier and 2 others come in to finish the tackle late off with a upper body twist. The problem is Houghton and Heremia simply lack the size to make tackles like that on props like Paea who was their only go forward.

McKinnon looked really classy, O'Carroll went well and probably made the most metres per carry out of all our props, Martin played himself into the starting line up no question.

Westerman looked good in the 1st 20 but seemed to tire big time, maybe down to the added workload required in the middle.

The Whiting knock on when it was 18-20 was 1 of the biggest momentum changers probably ever seen in a game and we never recovered.

I hope both get a chance at this level, hopefully this w/end. It would be fantastic for us if both could hold their own at this level.
Players may be amazing at training and form lethal combinations on the training park but they have to be able to do that on a matchday.

As pointed out by Paul earlier, if Gentle wants to start with Horne and Seymour against Wire (and everything indicates that he does) then he'll be looking to give them plenty of game time against the Bulls. That doesn't rule out giving some time to Ellis & Niklas, but I doubt we'll see either starting. Writing off one half of your preferred starting HB pairing after a single friendly would be a tad precipitate to say the least.

It would indeed, however starting at Wire if the combination is as bad as yesterday and other options maybe available is idiotic. If any player out of the combination is struggling to find form one would have expected it to be Seymour, new league, new club, different country etc, not a seasoned SL player who has played with most of the team for several years.
The ideal scenario is that yesterdays performance may hit home to Horney and he may improve massively on Sunday.

The reason fans (including myself) are looking for alternatives to Horne is that he hasn't really performed to a consistent level for a few season now. I am one of his biggest fans. I've enjoyed watching him play for us over the years but I see a player on the downward curve now. However I hope I'm wrong and he has a great season and forges a fantastic partnership with Seymour. That said I would give them both a least 40 minutes at Fev on Thursday plus the majority against Bradford. They need as much game time together as they can get right now imo.

So just to be clear, if Horne starts against Wire then Gentle is an idiot?

Big call to make at this point.

I will make it clearer !

If the partnership is as dire as yesterday next Sunday and other options have not been explored then it is indeed idiotic! considering we have another 2 options in h/backs who are no doubt biting at the bit!!!

Outstanding at York.

But you've also said that you don't want Horne to start on Sunday. How is he supposed to improve without game time?

Maybe a better definition of the situation would be that if Gentle doesn't do exactly what you want him to then he's an idiot?

Must admit I'm quite excited to see how he goes this season. Seems to have real promise and the right attitude.

it looks like my educated predicition came true



many people laughed when i said rovers would win. my vast rugby league knowledge was tested and passed with flying red and white colours



the forward battle was a demolition derby bret seymour didnt fancy it when he saw the mighty red army



hull didn;t look much better than last year

Not sure if this suits your agenda but I will re-iterate this for the last time.
If Horney continues to be dire and Gentle continues to use him without exploring other options it is IDIOTIC!!!!!!!!!

I don't have an 'agenda', other than to let Gentle get on with things without trying to tell him how to do his job after a single friendly game or threatening to write him off if he does something I might not agree with over the next couple of weeks. I seem to have more confidence in him than you do.

Relax. Gentle has a lot of work to do to reverse the effects of bad decisions made over the last few years and a brand new team structure to bed in - not least of which is a new HB pairing to get working together. It's going to be a few games into the season before things start to click.

At this point I have a lot of confidence in Gentle, my assessment of Horney is not based on 1 friendly yesterday it is based on th last 2 years!! Believe it or not I hoped there would be a little spark yesterday, I honestly do not believe that spark will return on a consistent basis, sadly Horney has had his day imo. I do not buy into all this time to gel not when discussing a seasoned pro who has had over a decade with the club, like mentioned if any of the combination was poor yesterday it should have been Seymour.
Personally I believe friendlies are the best arena to explore options as it allows us to make mistakes at no cost.

i think you need one of these marfa



chill winston

Me too. For me he should be the next in line for a run at HB should injuries or lack of form dictate that requirement as the season progresses. After all he was in the first team squad last year and was unfortunate to pick up a bad early injury.

My first game of the season yesterday and thought it was a good run out for both sides, coaches will have a fair bit of info to go on and no doubt both will have pluses and minuses that they will go away with and work on.

Obviously the biggest minus was the injuries and Hull will be happy to have seemingly come out of a pretty physical game unscathed. I'm happy with the result but to be honest its not the be all and end all, better to win than lose I suppose but as Hull were on their forst hit out and a few HKR players had had 40 minutes it was maybe to be expected.

I'm not sure about all the Horne knockers on here, I didn;t think he was as dire as some have made out. Rovers had the upper hand in the forwards and this showed on both HB's, if FC can get there pack working better then 6 & 7 will be allowed to show if they've got what is needed to take you forward.

Rovers looked like they had some good combinations later on against a tiring FC side and I thought Hall looked dangerous in the 6 position.

FC looked very dangerous from the ruck early on when Houghton's PTB was quicker and I thought we really struggled to handle him. Yeaman looked the worst player on the park, maybe its still a bit of 4 nations hangover or just ring rustiness.

I also think the statement about it being 2 poor sides was a bit harsh, it was more 2 newish sides who need some game time, still the new season wouldn;t be the new season without people making more of what was in essence a runout than is really necessary.