No suprise at all that FC dominated the first half given they played last week, I would have been shocked had it been the other way round. I bet Chester is far happier than Radford, the lads showed up well by the sounds of it in the second half and it seems fitness is pretty good for our first hit out.

Kelly was very good for you guys though sneya and yeaman (I think) shouldve had him wrapped up before your second try. Keep him fit and it looks promising for you

Same for us after our first 40

Think both teams will suprise a few of these 'exper' pundits

Having Bailey and Walker, who could well be our starting props back for the early part of the season is also a big boost.

It was a good tackle tbf. Although Lineham bit off more than he could chew. Tried to do a Tommy Makinson style one hand put down but he was never going to get there. Guzdek just kind of shoved him whilst in the air. He'd have been better served just putting his head down and trying to power over.

Enjoyed that. Half an hour of pre season cobwebs & then some real promise. Line speed needs to pick up, but kicking game looked good & we seem to have some genuine strike players. Bit disappointed at how many times our kickers & ball players were taken late though.

I must admit I thought we were lucky not to be penalised a couple of times for blocking chasers off.

Think we may need to invest in a decent fullback instead of hooker to be honest! Dixon looks woeful in that first half imo, second half when he was on the wing was a different story though! Maybe start mantellato at FB next week against wire if he's not injured. Players that's stood out for me today was Kelly, Sio, Burke, allgood, weyman, campese, green. Bit dissapointed with goulding who I thought was making some a fair few poor defensive reads in the first half that rovers where lucky to not be punished for! Must say he did steady himself and look better second half though. SR may be a big weakness for us this year but let's wait and see. Overall though, great performance from the boys and if we play well against wire could be rolling into the Leeds game with a lot of confidence and off the back of some good performances!

For Goulding you have to remember Coatsy that that will be his 1st game back after breaking his leg so hasn't played a game for many months. Steady but unspectacular derby that I'm sure he'll be relieved to get out the way.
For Mantelatto with his size he'll be better suited on the wing. We Deffo saw a couple of times when he went up for high balls that he's going to be massive in that area for us, especially when you take into account the types of cross field kicks that Kelly and Campese seem to enjoy putting in.Dixon was rusty I'm hoping that's all because with his speed you saw on more then one occasion that he nearly profits from getting away from the first chasers.
We looked god in the 2nd half and we should only get better better and better. Fast backs and effective halves and with Walker and Bailey to come into the side I'm left with mouth watering ideas of how good Bailey, Walker, Allgood and Weyman can actually be.

I cannot speak highly enough of James Green; he's bulked up and full of confidence, and for me made a massive impact when he came on and I would say he led the charge in the second half along with the very good Mitch Allgood.

I also thought Jordan Cox continued where he left off last season with strong direct running.

The potential for next season is mouth-watering however it would be even more if we had a decent 9 - very disappointed with Carlile although Boudebza looks a good prospect (for 15mins). With a good 9 in the ranks then we might have a good season to look forward to.

When did that happen?

Oops a serious knee injury rather.

Overall I think you have to be happy with that. Stand out's for me were kelly ( could be a big signing!) campese was a steadying influence allowing others to steal the show, allgood & green in that second half were very good and dominated against all props they come against. Sio, class - What odd's for him top scorer? Boubedza's distribution looks solid and he look's lively. I thought gudzek when he came on looked excellent and slotted in very well and burke looks very strong and confident with the ball. Donaldson added some enthusiasm when he came on and made a number of top tackles and hard yards - he is a workhorse no doubt.

Negatives - Not to many. Carlile tackles well, but brings nothing in attack. However the fact when he was on the pack were getting dominated does not help. 1st half defenseive fragility with welham & campese down that side, but maybe you can applaud the lines ran by minichello. Dixons defensive fullback abilities are in question, but can you leave him out of your team when he can score tries from anywhere on the pitch which is something we have lacked for a long time. If i am really picky our centre's did not excel, but rarely did to much wrong.

As a 1st hit out together after a rusty start as expected we looked very capable, and the togetherness and character was excellent which is always good to see. Positive signs, but like the team we shouldn't get to carried away. Onwards an Upwards I hope! RRTR

Would much prefer Ben C at full-back but agree, Dixon needs to play somewhere. I am concerned with the hookers though. At the mo of the two I would stick with Carlile as he deserves his chance but really hope Chezzy is still looking to strengthen there

Typical game of 2 half's . first half we bullied you in the middle second half you had all the ball and boy did you use it well. Looking back at the game again I think you guys will trouble teams and I also think if we keep our 13 on we will do well .

I think we should stick with dixon at full back he didn't do to bad yesterday he dropped 1 bomb and fell for minichellos outrageous step, but his pace in centre field will be a massive plus for us this season and sio and either Ben c or manatello will have the wing spots covered, and i will add that when we signed French John i wasn't really pleased about it but seeing him in 2 games now i will admit i was wrong and he looks a good player

I think it was to be expected that you'd have the upper hand in the first half seeing as we were blooding so many new faces.

22-1

[urlhttp://www.skybet.com/rugby-league/super-league/event/17085111[/url

I'd agree, well worth persisting for the time being. Miniciello's side step was reminiscent of Galea's at Magic Weekend in 2009 v Warrington.

Ken sio 33-1 at corals,25-1 at ladbrokes top regular season try scorer. Bit of value IMO.

Playing outside goulding whose an excellent assist player, and pinpoint kicks continuing in yesterdays form, and albo kelly making numerous breaks down that side 22/1 or any odds above 20 is well worth a each way bet at least. I'm on it.

With regards dixon, would it maybe be worth in defense moving him to the wing and mantelleno at fullback, if mantelleno is better defensively. ( not saying he is, just has a more conducive frame for getting in the way ) and then in attack allow dixon to play the running type fullback following up on breaks and half breaks etc as well as chiming into the line and mantelleno on the wing to finish and pluck kicks out of the air? A lot of messing about but could be the answer if done correctly. Anyone's thoughts?

Personally i would like to see him stay at fullback and as for the defensive side of his game the opposition have to get past 12 others players before they get to him

Historically, that is something we have been overly giving to other teams - free pass to attack our line, so excuse my pessimism on that subject.

Regardless, it is not a bad conundrum to have. If dixon starts at fullback i am more then happy with that because i believe his positives can outweigh the negatives, however if we can mitigate the negatives somehow it's a brucey bonus.

I can see why people would question him playing at full back but i thought he handled sneyd and prices kicking game pretty well apart from once, but that knock on gets well outweighed by the try he scored from a little bit of broken defence and he was gone which i find really exciting, and on the plus side surely he can never be as bad as our last no1

I was really impressed with all our new signings i think they will all bring something to the team this season the only 1 left me scratching my head a bit was Maurice Blair he played centre in NRL but we signed him as a half back and i think he played loose forward yesterday so I suppose him playing a number of positions is good but the alarming thing was he seemed to of enjoyed the festive period and mince pies far to much and seemed to have a rugby ball stuffed up his jumper

Speaking very generally, I'd say Hull looked bigger and more powerful, Rovers a bit leaner and quicker. There were exceptions, of course - Maurice Blair, most obviously. He trundled it up okay from loose forward, but that wasn't a typical body shape for a 6 or centre, by any stretch. Thought Carlile did okay and I was reassured, that he could do a competent job. Boudebza could be quite special if he had a little more pace I reckon, but even without it he's not bad. Dixon's errors were ones that any full back might make, IMO and his attacking play was very good. Kelly looks an exciting signing.
Hull ran over us a bit in the first half, but seemed to have burned a lot of fuel in doing it and we took advantage in the second.
More positives than negatives for both sides I thought. Sneyd looked very competent and confident for Hull and as Stan says, Minicello's play was reminiscent of Galea.