The season before last we came within 10 mins of finishing 4th. We've got a much better balanced side now with half backs as well. Dont write us off yet. Also the facilities and equipment Adam has provided the players is world class and has taken the club to another level, and that has come from the players themselves

Are you suggesting the facilities at YPI are world class? I'd be surprised

Why anyone still feels the need to justify their opinions to Rupert amazes me.

good post,plus the bit ive highlighted i heard exactly the same on sunday,everything gentle has asked for pearson has got him,hes certainly not frightened of writing a cheque out

Almost good enough to bring the World Squash championships to Hull, i kid thee not

Would love to see him in a Leeds shirt. Think he will end up in the NRL in 2013 though.

I no what your saying, but once again it proves we are unable to keep our promising stars.. so what does that show to the fans. Briscoe Junior Left, Not Our new boards fault but owell. Been talk of briscoe leaving to oz, and also jack looking elsewhere.. Just seems to me that we have all these promising stars but as soon as they have a season or 2 with us and show there class they move on cause they recieve better offers..

What do you mean 'once again'? Which other promising star has left us?

And Jack Briscoe's hardly set the 20's alight. Tom was a first team regular at his age.

Have a word with any player that was here last year and they will tell you what he has got them. Not just YPI but the equipment he has provided for them. We were always told how professional the club were and how much money they spent. But it was rubbish. Adam has now put this club in with a real shout

I'm not saying we'll be in the top 3, 5th or 6th for me.

A couple of years ago Rovers finished what 4th, who'd of thought Rovers would of done that with your squad that year. The team may gel quickly and Gentle having them playing the best rugby we have since 2004 who knows anything could happen.

it was toms brother luke.. but we have lost other players which have become better.. i can remember a certain hooker who almost salvaged our season not long ago in dean triester (not sure spelt right). Danny Brough, i can see jodie brough coming back to haunt us in next couple seasons (i no we loaned him but could of had him, instead we got sharp.) gareth carvell..

but my whole post is saying, is that we keep losing the players that become good players and always keep the average players.. why not for once just take risks and offer more money and give them year-2year contract. if in that time we dont succeed then let them go.. but like saints, if they return to super league, they return to us..

What other promising star have we had? Briscoe is the best player the club has produced since schofield

I'm not disputing he's spent some cash and the facilities have improved massively, but world class? Do they have indoor 3g pitches? Outdoor all weather pitches? State of the art treatment and rehab facilities? I'd guess the likes of chelsea and man united have world class facilities and I doubt we have the same down chants ave

So which promising star has left us?

When Wigan and Bradford were throwing money at Rich Horne we managed to keep hold of him, same with Craig Hall with Bradford and Hkr and I'm sure King, Houghton and Yeaman have had offers.

ok luke briscoe.. cant think of any others. im just talking about players that we had and lost aswel who have become impact players for other clubs

Hull have been a very capable team for some time now but always seemed to under performe, some new personnel and a new boss could see the potential released this season, Hull are always a team you look at at the beginning of a season and think they could push the top 4.

Interesting to read Royce Simmons comments that he expects Saints to cover the loss of James Graham with their existing props including Peter Griffin lookalike Perry. He cannot be serious

He's just trying to boost morale I bet. No prop in this country comes close to replacing Graham, one of similar standard won't be seen for at least another decade IMO. He is a massive loss, but maybe a youngster like Carl Forster will make the step up. It's happened many times before!

Same could be said for Kris Welham, maybe he should have put a transfer request in when Leeds came in for him?

They have got all the equipment that the Aussie clubs have now. You will see the difference that makes to the players in the coming months

You don't really beleive they did do you?

Well it was Gary Hetherington who said they did so I think he will probably know

Where to start...

Dean Treister didn't stay on because we signed arguably the best players to done the black and white shirt in Richard Swain. No brainer. Plus, how can you argue he went on to become a better player when noone signed him?

Brough was effectively sacked. He had off field issues that Sharpe didn't want in the club. Same with Thackray.

Jodie Broughton was a loan player. He wasn't ours to keep or lose. And at the time he was here we had 3 international wingers.

Carvell I'll give you as a player we've lost. But is he really any better than when he was with us? He didn't have "potential", he was the finished article and we got a good deal for him.

All in all, your point isn't a very good one. Our problem is definitely not that we lose players with potential (Luke Briscoe slipped the net, everyone else has stayed longer than their worth most of the time... Well except for Cookey!).