After the Challenge Cup win in Cardiff, Kear told the squad to enjoy themselves on the night and they (plus the coaching staff) consequently partied into the night. Some players didn't make it down for breakfast the next morning but the team bus was due to leave early to be back in Hull for the reception.

Kear decided to phone a motel somewhere just off the M1 and order a buffet, he'd checked with Hetherington but she'd said no and that the squad should've been up on time. Kear went ahead anyway and David Plummer reimbursed him for the cost on expenses.

Kear said that him and Hetherington also fell out over Sid Domic - she didn't rate him and didn't want Hull to sign him.

On Richard Agar, Kear said he led a "charmed life" at Hull and points out the 11th and 12th finishes in 2008 and 2009.

no you dont!

New to me that one.

The best breakfast was after just coming off the night watch.

John Kear was/is one of the most technically competent coaches the game has seen. When Bomber signed him as assistant, I told him Kear was his best ever signing. When he arrived at The Boulevard, he handed each player a dossier on how they played the game, detailing things like: favoured foot to step off, when they'd take on the defence etc... Some players found out things they never realised about their game.

When he started as 'A' team coach at Castleford, I ref'd them against Leeds at Headingley. He came into my dressing room and asked two questions on hypothetical situations in a game and how I would interpret them.

1) "Their full-back has a habit of trapping the ball with his foot before picking it up. If we call "downtown" and stay outside the 10m, when will you call play-on?" - As long as your lads are outside the 10m, as soon as he touches the ball. They did this all night and hammered the Leeds full-back all evening, often regaining possession in the first tackle.

2) "At the 5th tackle, if we stand to play the ball, play it forward and they pick the ball up, what will you do?" - Penalise them for handling the ball in the ruck (at this time the ball could be played in any direction). Fortunately for me, Cas never tried that one. I reckon only Kear & me would've known thwe rule covering the awarding of the penalty.

What those questions showed me was here was a thinking coach. A man who had studied the Laws of the Game, not just to see what they did cover but als to utilise what they didn't cover to his team's advantage.

I've always admired the bloke, his only failings being getting too close to certain players and not realising that his real strength lay in assisting rather than being a head coach.

His views on Agar are spot on too. I'm surprised that the ginner dwarf has lasted so long as his assistant. Agar seemingly managed to engineer the departure of a couple of head coaches and numerous assistants while remaining teflon-coated when it came to accepting blame for anything

No such thing as the night watch in the Royal Navy. Now if you mean the morning watch then I might agree with you. I rarely made breakfast after the middle watch and you most certainly were not put on a charge for missing it.

If I had said after just coming off a dogs morning how many people do you think would have understood?

Baring yourself.

You 2 are bickering like husband and wife. Were you lovers in the navy?

all in the golden rivet club no doubt them sailor boys

It's what gthe navy was built on: rum, bum & baccy

Well I would not have understood what a "dogs morning" is or was as I have never heard of such an expression. As an ex matelot I am of course aware of all the watches and the dog watches and the morning watches are quite distinct and well apart. You could have just said coming off the morning watch at 0800 as I don't think it that would have been too difficult even for a red and white.

So your ex navy and not famiiar with the 4 day watch system

Forenoon/first
Afternoon/middle
Dogs/morning
Last dog all night in

Shame on you

It's like the new cab family.

I thought this thread was about John Kear?

I think Agar is pretty useless, but I will defend his performance (or lack of) in 2008/2009 as he inherited a poor squad decimated by injuries and low on morale at the end of 2008. Whereas Kear inherited arguably our best squad of recent years in 2005 (2004 we finished 3rd and played great rugby before injuries wrecked the playoffs) and just had to tweak McRae's successful team.

I've also always had my suspicions that the salary budget was cut for 2008 & 2009, only increased again for 2010 (when we signed Long, O'Meley and Fitzgibbon) as the board realised a 3rd low finish in a row would tip the fans over the edge.

upto when i was demobbed in 1966 after 10years in the royal navy,it was always first dog and morning,not dogs and morning.last dog was all night in.

Stop thread drifting, unless he was in the Navy

That's what I said. Dogs morning was short for first dog and morning

John Kear was in the sea cadets.
It's in the book

Doggone it,how do you know he wasn`t?

thats the one

The Kearney thing is bolox in my opinion. Unless Kearney was at Sheffield when they won the cup under Kear?

The only Kearney story i got told, which i believe, was when he left he left a report for the board on what they needed to do to take the club to the very top.

They ignored it

is first dog and morning what gary hetherington gets to see when he wakes up?

thats probably because it involved spending some money

I'd heard, probably on here, that Kearney gave a team talk, after Kear had left the dressing room, before the teams came out for the final. Probably a load of tosh though.