He's a good player nothing more nothing less. You'd think he was Wally Lewis the way the Unwashed are carrying on? So probably Sneyd and Kelly in the halves which is decent enough although fitness must be a doubt. The only positive I can see from an FC perspective is Jake the Snake will be frothing at mouth come the Cas game.He owes his teammates massively after missing this through a very avoidable act of Jakery

Earlier on I said I didn't expect Kelly to play, but given Radfords comments and the fact no time frame was ever put on his injury I reckon you might be right. Now that Connor is definitely banned I reckon we will roll the dice and throw him out there. How fit he is going to be is is a different matter, but even a 50% Kelly can be a match winner.

19s announced tomorrow I believe. We will have a better idea then.

Even if Kelly isn't named in the 19 he will probably play.Think if he is named tomorrow it may help fans morale a bit? We've had it last few Derby with McGuire and Lunt and when they don't make it the fans deflate a bit. Been a strange build up so far

neither side will be 100%, a derby as a season opener is far from ideal.

Looking at the squads, cannot see anything other than a HKR win. No pace, no creativity in the Hull side, very forward orientated - and an under strength forward pack at that!

On paper, I think we look a little better, looking at those 19s.

With home advantage, i’m hopeful. It’s not like some recent seasons when i knew deep down that we were probably going to get metaphorically kerb stomped. Not just against Hull, either. And not knowing it doesn’t mean it definitely won’t happen!

That said, first game of the season it is likely to be even scrappier than most derbies. Depends as much as anything on where the teams are in terms of preparation. It’ll be a few weeks until either properly finds their feet, I reckon - but who is closest currently? Looking forward to finding out.

We wI’ll all know by 10pm Friday night (unless we get golden point). I just hope the weather is ok for running & handling with no injuries for either side. Our squad looks good but non of us will really know until we get a few games in. Looking forward to it.

If there are no curveballs and Kelly/Milodi/Rat. Don't play then looking at that squad we won't have to worry about gameplans as it's obvious they going straight down the middle and aim for brute force and high completion that has served Radford well. Trouble is their pack is not the one with Ellis Watts Pritchard and Manu and Chello in pomp.We could/should have enough to meet them head on and
prevail. Radders tactics are helped by probable weather and it may turn into a grind which is what he wants. I'm confident as you can be as a fan but reckon there will be yellows and reds flying around and it wouldn't be the first time iv seen us bodge up a golden opportunity

. Yes and I do not think it will be the last time we bodge it up but I hope not come on you reds

Gameplans? You're implying we have more than 1.
Even if those players were playing we would still employ those tactics you mentioned.

That 1 plan is pretty hard to stop when you have a top notch pack.

But we no longer have and even the most ardent of Hull fans see it, even if our coaching staff don't.

The current exclusion of Miloudi from the squad is testament to that with Radford prefering the steady approach of Washbrook or Dawson Jones over a maverick.

All told both squads look pretty even. It'll come down to game plans, home advantage and how much desire Hull have to right the wrongs of the last 11 league games.

I think on the day you guys will just sneak this 1.

I think we look a fair bit stronger tbh especially on the bench. Plenty of speed behind what we are hoping will be a powerful pack.McGuire and Drinkwater should have a bit more time on the ball in theory?
No coincidence Sneyd looked a world beater behind a pack that was running riot.

Weather report for tomorrow has given possible heavy snow showers coming in off the east coast, so I hope they've got the pitch covered and plenty of sand at the ready for the surrounding walkways.
Ground is solid at the moment.

[urlhttps://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/rugby-league-news/hull-kr-fc-cold-weather-2490236[/url

It has been covered all week according to that HDM article.

Cheers for that info, that's good to know. I've been away for most of the week, just got back this morning and trying to catch up on what's happening. In that case the pitch should be ok, it also looks like the club have plans at the ready to deal with snow on the surrounding areas of the pitch and ground in general. Reminds me a little of the Old craven park when the club used to ask us to volunteer to clear the pitch of straw after a hard frost or snow event. How times have changed, for the better thank goodness, at least we now have proper covers instead of something out of a stable.

If this game wasnt on Sky it'd probably be off,

Hoping its on, really ready for it now

Its been quite an interesting build up to this game, a lot of confident Rovers fans, new signings, were expecting a big improvement, we seem full of confidence too.
Across the river tbe fans dont seem to confident, poor pre season, injuries, no top signings, same style of play, no pace etc etc

IMO tomorrow will be a really tough opening game, poor weather conditions, handling errors aplenty, neither team fully fit, not sure it'll be a game to throw the ball around either.
I think if our pack can at least match Hull's our halfbacks should see us home. Hopefully

I remember back in them days when they called for volunteers to clear the pitch we got a free game and a pint does were the days not

We will clearly win.

Having said that, Ms. Terrorista v.2 is attending her first Derby.

Last game was CC Final.

As Daft Craig says, Hull will come with one game plan. A forward based power game.

If we score early, we need to step on their horrible throats, if not, we need to be patient.

This time of year, this game, they will try and drag us down to their level.

A mention from a Legend! I am less prone to arguments nowadays Welcome back and yes we need to get into them early and not let up.Very brittle if Plan A fails. Looking outside now think us fans are going to freeze our bollys off so a loss and pneumonia just wouldn't do?

Drag you down to our level?



You’re not the Barcelona of rugby league you know.

Just like last night it’ll be won who makes the fewest mistakes and completes, always is the case for the first few rounds of the season.

You'd think they'd learn by now?

Last night was won by the better team. A barge over try and an interception was all Wigan could manage. The score flattered them even their own supporters acknowledge that. Wigan halves were non existent for the majority of the match

I have to agree with this (sorry Scott). Completing sets is important, of course it is, but it has become a bit of a cliche, especially when the weather is bad. As in football, there is not much point having lots of possession if you aren't going to do anything with it. Saints made more errors than Wigan did last night. The difference was that Saints always looked a threat with the ball, whereas Wigan hardly ever created anything. Completing your sets will keep you in the contest, but there needs to be an end product.