True, he was simply awful there last time round. Should have played Shaul. Other options, Horne and Whiting, were needed elsewhere.

Agree 100%

Horne was past his sell by date by 2007 but as he's from Hull and loves club, well hey let's sign him up for another year when he has 1 good game per year!

Problem is Horney is better now than Nicklas ever will be. Pity we can't bring a good young un through in that position but we can't.

We're slowly drifting up the creek............unfortunately he is the only paddle we have.

He's not the future but plays his role OK when next to Holdsworth. It's a different type of player we need more. Good on him for salvaging a point for us today though - it certainly pleased me at least that we came back and got a point notwithstanding the fact I would have preferred two.

Rubbish players, terrible recruitment..

How far down the food chain do we go to lay the blame for that? Out of all the kids playing the game at school/youth/amateur level we cant find 1 !!!!!!!!!! Is it a consequence of the coaching systems and the coaches at youth level drumming into the kids 'keep your structure' and stifling talent and flair?
Harry Tyson-Wilson is the next 'superkid' and RU is sniffing around him now (so I'm told), we need talent and we need to nurture it not stifle it at a young age.

No, he didn't. He said the conditions were atrocious to play in, but not the reason why we didn't win. He didn't give excuses, I don't think he ever really gives excuses apart from blaming his players' performances.

Last year wasn't so bad, and slightly differing circumstances. We genuinely were threadbare, so I could understand it more. In an ideal world though, Horne and Yeaman would have had spells in the stand.

This year, at various stages the following have all been worthy of being dropped and escaped it:

Galea
Lynch
O'Meley
Whiting
Yeaman
Pitts (although he finally was left out of the squad until injury gave him a reprieve)

What I think makes it harder to swallow though, is that somebody like Green IS left out after one dip in performance despite probably being our best forward for the opening 4 rounds. It just makes it seem as though it's easier to leave out the younger, less experienced players than it is the older faces, regardless of who is the more deserving case. I just can't see that this breeds a healthy attitude amongst players.

Not in the transcript I've now read he didn't. He did say he was happy with a point given the conditions - something I don't agree with BTW - but he didn't use it to excuse the performance. In fact he criticised the performance.


What's your definition of competitive?


You seriously think we have a better squad than Saints?




Noble? The same Brian Noble who's done nothing for years? That Brian Noble? The one without a current coaching gig?

We've played 8 games and you've listed 6 players. That's quite a turnover, and I doubt they all deserved the drop in different matches.

Do we even know why Green was left out?

The reasons why I'm reluctant to place the blame solely with the coach...

Shaun Wane. No prior experience as head coach.

Brian McDermott. Looked like the worst coach in the league at London with a win ratio that made Agar look like Tim Sheens.

Both now coaches at clubs with good squads and a winning culture. Both looking like top notch coaches.

What's the common factor?

Hit the nail on the head.

It's not the coach, it's the culture of championing average players. Players who have been here too Long. A clean sweep is needed. But of course the knock n defect would be another 3or 4 years of team building. As has been pointed out, recruitment has not been good. That's not saying we have signed poor players. It's that we have kept faith with too many average players In key positions for too long.

The question is, rather than turn this into a slanging match, will Pearson come good on some of his promises to bring quality players in. That means a half back THIS season.

From where? the winning halfback your looking for is non existant this season.

I'd say apart from Westerman and Shannon he's been amongst our best players this season, but hey, don't let that get in the way of a good rant.



I wouldn't have left Green out myself, and Pitts has been left out, and there were rumours that if Yeaman wasn't injured he'd have been dropped too.

Galea I can understand advocating dropping, especially if we had Ellis and Tickle fit, but without them and wanting Whiting dropping too who do you bring in?

The decision to play Briscoe at full back today depends how likely Shannon's chances of playing were. If he was thought to be likely then I can understand taking the chance, if he was a major doubt then I'm disappointed that we didn't take Shaul down to cover.

What was our half-back pairing when we took Leeds apart at the KC last year? I remember Stilts playing at 6 but who was our half?

Seymour I believe, with Whiting named at 6 but basically and extra second row with Manu.

Both Gentle and Seymour's finest moments at FC so far.

We give Horney another year on the back of one good game, Yeamo an extension too

And the extra year given to OMeley

Both Wane & McDermott took over clubs, that had the foundations (youth) & playing structures of a successful club ,already in place.(Originally instilled from Maguire & Tony Smith - IMO )

Both clubs gambled, and for them it worked. also both coaches could've used their own style, but they carried on the same processes.

Gentle has inherited nothing, no youth, no winning culture at all.

He badly needs leaders in his team, 'too many Indians,not enough Chiefs.'

Yep , You reap what you sow .

Horney isn't an organiser of any description, never has been, never will be. His loyalty to the club cannot be faulted, he still has skills that we can utilise, although they have diminished with age. But please don't ever expect Rich to take a game by the scruff of the neck and sort it out.

Is Agar really as bad as you thought or was it more the people running the club at the time?

Hull achieved 6th under Agar and that is not to be sneezed at. I know it isn't where you want to be but look at the teams above that - just who is going to drop out of the picture to let Hull (or anyone else) in?

Unless one of the big 4 hit financial problems similar to Bradford I just don't see any of them going back into the pack. The task for anyone wanting to rock the big 4 boat is enormous - and then there is Catalans & Huddersfield to contend with too.

The structures and investment at these clubs are long standing, the foundations are rock solid and in a salary capped competition, people like Marwan Koukash and Adam Pearson can shout as loud as they like but there simply is no quick fix. And that remains the case, be your coach Agar or Gentle.

The fact is that for all the talk, the bulk of Hull's recent recruitment has come from Hull KR, Salford & Castleford. That's the only way it could be - tell me one reason why a player would leave a top 4 club for Hull? Only if they were to be the marquee top dollar signing like Ellis. And you can only afford have one of those. And even then at the back end with injury ever more a feature.

Some Hull fans don't understand the problem but it's obvious really. Owners change, coaches change but gullible Hull FC fans remain.

Every regime, every coach promise the same thing. Every time Hull FC fans fall for it hook line & sinker. What's the point of actually providing the real thing when the Hull FC gullible fan will buy into any old bull year after year?

That's your problem!

If Richard Horne was our biggest issue, we'd be laughing. Far more pressing problems, in no particular order are:
No scrum half
Lack of line breaking prop
NO dummy runners
Poor support play
Lack of kicking game (partly due to scrum half, but not entirely)
No quality, experienced centre

Horne started the season as 3rd/4th choice half and has delivered well as such. Low on the list of things to fix at present IMO.

Not much to argue with there, chief.