Were you on the ale all day yesterday Craigy?





Luckily, for the more one-eyed fans out there to celebrate the big win, the Rovers shop have some new stock*.



Each badge also comes with a special commemorative quote, from the following;

"Hull have lost both their friendlies now"
"We're on the front cover of League Express this week"
"Hull didn't have any injuries last year"
"The Clive Sully trophy IS competitive"

*Limited supply. *Not available online.

and Bobby Bubbles.

Seething

Yesterday was a no win situation for us ,win and it was expected lose and it would have been a disaster I wasn't going to go but ended up going just to see how the new players went wasn't bothered that it was a derby I like the style we're going to play I just wonder what last season would have been like had we had Sheens in charge

chomp

Back on the ale again today?

In that case you more or less all equally handicapped.

Just an excuse really.

Take it how you like

I have done.

No unfortunately. But on re reading your post got me thinking about the Clive Sullivan trophy.intentionally or not it isn't held in the regard it should be.this season it had to be this fixture as unlikely to meet again.but if/when we come up I think it may be better to do it similar to how fc do it with saints for the Steve Prescott trophy.just seems not enough made of it

Agree, it should be played for as part of the first scheduled competitive fixture between the sides (which would probably fall on each Good Friday). This year it'd have to have been the friendly really.

Not ideal for a friendly, and not really befitting of the man. You either get what we have yesterday and a side playing for the most part a reserve team, or a side making a good 10 or so subs, depending what the coach wants to get out of it. It's hard for fans to really get behind.

It was difficult to assess Rovers spine because it was rarely put under pressure, and if anything the halfbacks were guilty of not capitalising on this, although the floodgates did open up in the final quarter.

The return of Shaw and Salts added quality in the performance, and what can you say about Quinlan & Heffernan - they are going to take the Championship by storm.

In the pack, the tempo was good from Lunt/Jubb/Lawler and both Clark and Milton were relentless. Scruton is a cracking signing, leading from the front, and I was even happy with Clarkson's contribution.

I will even conceded that Disco didn't look out of place with his zimmer - good to see him cross over the line.

Not a bad start.

Just seen the game on Hull KR.TV. A fairly controlled and dominant performance by a well drilled, experienced and skillful Hull KR team full of intent against inexperienced and ill prepared opposition. We should have put over 50 points on them easily.

I don't mean to be unkind to Hull and to Lee Radford and I fully understand that preseason is a time to experiment but his team selection was slightly disrespectful to the occasion, the opposition and the fee paying watching RL fans from both sides.

That's twice now he's fielded a pretty much identical side in successive weeks against stronger opposition and with the same end result. Well that's proved that men against boys will never work and lightning has struck twice. Moreover, he now knows his squad has depth but lacks quality depth. Any big run of injuries and Hull FC will truly struggle. I see Salford turning them over as well.

Glad I didn't go. I have got tickets for Leeds away and you can be sure we will be facing much stronger and motivated opposition. On the evidence of yesterday's performance from us, it will be an entertaining and close game.

I often find when teams (both RL and football) field a weakened team to see how they go they are often doing the kids a disservice, I would have thought you'd get a better view of how good the kids are by feeding one or 2 of them in alongside the quality players.

I would imagine a young winger would benefit from playing outside a 1st teamer rather than outside a lad who maybe is getting his positioning / passing wrong.

I'm actually surprised Radford has changed his method from last year where he seemed to play the friendlies with more 1st teamers, suppose he has a more settled squad this year.

I never went but have seen some of the tries and our speed of play looked pretty good, for me the biggest result was we came out unscathed, the fact we seemed to do some good stuff is a bonus.

radfords job was on the line at the start of last year he was frightened to blood youngsters last year hence experience at higher level / plus no major injury pile up but he delivered a trophy. so I think his job is under no threat for the time being, that's why hes done it this way which is correct

Just watched the game on rovers tv as I was unable to make it yesterday. Have to say, really surprised by the Ellis/abdull partnership, seems to work really well, both heavy halves it has to be said but they both have a bit of play in them. Certainly for the first time in years we've got 2 halves that can tackle, compared to say, campese (couldn't tackle for toffee) and Kelly (always hit an miss in defence, certainly was targeted when playing for us).

Danny Addy a big plus for me to, showed up well against the aussies in the 4 nations and certainly looks a signing. Shame he won't be able to showcase himself in SL for us every week as I think he looks well up to it.

Scruton & Clarke give us a real presence in the forwards, something we've lacked over the years; shame Tilse won't be around to compliment this. Heffernen looks a find, speed and good hands. Will Oakes must get game time, is he really 17!? What a player he could become, only hope it's with us.

Finally, Tim Sheens looks to have us well structured and we didn't look to score of every play compared to seasons gone by. Overall, really positive and has me optimistic for the upcoming assault to get back to SL. Certainly the bottom 4 teams will not relish the 8s with us in it come the split.

tbf to Radford hes said from the off hes gonna play youngsters to see how they go, hulls main team will be more or less the same as last year and he knows that, we looked shot at the end of last year so hes going about the start of this year a bit different, at times yesterday it was men against boys, some of our youngsters are not ready yet and it showed, but best to find out now, some looked ok and might be needed later on, for your part you looked good and I am confident you will finnish 1 or 2.

Agree with this Barham. It's a balancing act and Radford didn't have anywhere near enough experience on the park. The benefits of such a contest were most certainly in our favour and we were comfortable capitalising on them from what I've seen.

It only appeared to be men v boys. Average age of FC 22, average KR 23 and that included our pensioner Disco Dave.

maybe so, but I would be surprised to see any of the team that played the 2nd half be in our 17, different objectives for both teams and no injuries so jobs a gud un

Job's a gud un. Maybe so, but by flagging up in advance that he intended to play an inexperienced line up, he took at least 2-3k off the gate and devalued what is a vital element of preseason Derby intensity in a contest bearing the name of our mutually shared game icon.

It's like me telling my wife of 38 years when I forget her anniversary celebration not to worry as there will always be next year and then ducking when the inevitable right hook follows.

it would suggest however that at an average age of 22 unless most of those fringe players prove to be late developers they are not going to make the grade to meet the aspirations of your club.

I understand Radford's approach to pre-season, I just don't understand the point of arranging five warm up games if they only really wanted one.

I'm sure both sides got what they wanted from the game. Hull's players wanted to stake individual claims, we needed a chance to gel as a unit. I like where we are but it's too early to get excited.

He hasn't changed his method, last season he played all his big players once, against you, he is doing the same this season against Salford.

He would rather play them against a SL side, which makes sense.

I assume the majority of Hull's team yesterday played in their under 23 team last year. This been the case, it is not a very good advert for this competition.
I didn't go yesterday so I'm only going by the radio/ HDM reports but it would seem the majority are a way off first team readiness.
Is this a reflection on teams commitment to under 23 rugby ?

Explain the logic of the timings of the Cas, Toronto and Doncaster games then. Scope for injuries and weird that Cas were up first. Salford I can understand, but Donny last. You're kidding me.