Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:00 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

I've said a few times that Muranka certainly looks the part of a second rower.
Great shape.
But the more I see of him coupled with his poor history makes me think that he is not coming on and improving.
In fact he plays like he doesn't want to be there.
Is rugby really his sport?

The feature of Horne's tenure last season was that he couldn't win tight games.
He has just done it twice more ... albeit against decent opposite.

Apart from Miloudi, who I know is good, what about the other Hull lads?
I thought these would make a difference!

Osbourne looks a big lad but in nearly every contact he looked like he picked up a knock, lane injured his ankle I think earlyish and watched the 2nd half in a protected boot, bower and downs looked bright and creative I'd definetly would like to see more of them this season and miloudi although I'm not his biggest fan did well when coming on and probably should of been on a lot earlier. Everyone see's it differently though so it would be good to hear others opinion

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:29 pm  

I think Boyle only did 1 spell ,cannot remember him coming back on. Connor & Zac both had to do extra minutes in the 2nd half .

Certainly some work to do over the coming weeks , ball handling wasn't good .

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:47 pm  

Batley looked a half-decent side with good combinations across the field. Michael Ward, the prop they signed from Oldham, looked very good and the second-rower James Harrison looked like a useful customer.

There were a few cracks in our defence and a few lessons to be learnt but when there are so many substitutions taking place, it's only to be expected to some degree. We made too many basic handling errors though. We need to smarten that up or else we will lose matches that we would otherwise win.

Hakim Miloudi made a very noticeable difference when he came on. I'd be busting a gut to get him on DR (or something!) as I think he could be a key player for us.

Our kicking game was decent again with both the kicker and chasers being on the same page - something we weren't good at last year.

Hull prop Ross Osborne was limping badly at the end of the game. I thought he might have a dead-leg but he told me he'd hurt his back. Old backs (like mine) tend not to get better very quickly - I hope his young back won't keep him out of action for too long!

I'm happy with the way the two pre-season games have gone. It's a pity we've not got a third game. Richard Horne has a few tricky decisions to make regarding team selection. My concerns would be that we could still be thin on the ground in the prop department but I've seen enough to realise we'll be playing an entertaining expansive style this season.

Batley won 28-0 at Keighley last time out. We probably can't read too much into that but it is probably a reflection of how much better Batley are than the League One sides we'll be playing.

I enjoyed chatting to a couple of Batley fans in the stand and I wish them well for the season ahead.

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:23 pm  

Yeah ... don't know the details ... but we need to get Miloudi.
Can see him snapped up and off us.

Horne was on ITD saying we have a big pack ... he ain't real.

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:43 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Yeah ... don't know the details ... but we need to get Miloudi.
Can see him snapped up and off us.

Horne was on ITD saying we have a big pack ... he ain't real.

We look like an under 13s side taking on a under 16s side with the size difference, and on miloudi just think how much better he would be if he ran the way we are kicking!

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:08 pm  

Since the rubbish talked about signing two PNG forwards there has been no mention of still being on the look out for props.If we needed them then we need them now but hold on we don't need props now because we have a big pack according to Horne.
Money paid for Liam Harris who is a stand off or full back and in fact had two brilliant games for York last season against the Dons playing at full back.Horne plays him at scrum half.
Miloudi had a brilliant game at stand off in Toronto last season but only gets half a game today.
Jason Muranka is nowhere near good enough whilst Brad England hasn't got on the park yet.
Boyle shows no signs in the game of being the stand out leader Horne talks him up to be.
So many substitutions when Horne should really by now have decided what his strongest team to take on Coventry should be.
In other words he has no idea what he is doing and there is no chance of the Dons being promoted with him as the coach.

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:43 pm  

Tatty Feeld wrote:

Since the rubbish talked about signing two PNG forwards there has been no mention of still being on the look out for props.If we needed them then we need them now but hold on we don't need props now because we have a big pack according to Horne.
Money paid for Liam Harris who is a stand off or full back and in fact had two brilliant games for York last season against the Dons playing at full back.Horne plays him at scrum half.
Miloudi had a brilliant game at stand off in Toronto last season but only gets half a game today.
Jason Muranka is nowhere near good enough whilst Brad England hasn't got on the park yet.
Boyle shows no signs in the game of being the stand out leader Horne talks him up to be.
So many substitutions when Horne should really by now have decided what his strongest team to take on Coventry should be.
In other words he has no idea what he is doing and there is no chance of the Dons being promoted with him as the coach.

I go on results and observations.
I think you are right.
And I have seen nothing in Horne that warrants any hype.
He is OK ... that's the size of it.
I am not sure the fridge light is on though.
Just a kid from Hull who played rugby.

That will get the scarf wavers going.
lol

[Jemmo]

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:09 am  

On the face the the result was OK, Batley are a decent side. A few of their tries came from mistakes but I suppose that is the nature of the game, we certainly had to work harder for our scores than they did. That for me was the most encouraging thing, last year we looked like we could have played for a whole match and not cause much trouble other than driving over, we scored a variety of tries this week, close range, long range, multiple passes, short balls and kicks.

I can't think of too many stand out players, AJB had a great game on the wing, I liked the look of Jack Downs, Tali looks better in defence, and Miloudi makes difference. As others mentioned, I didn't notice Boyle or Harris. Thought Miller was the better of the starting halves.

We could really do with another friendly

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Mon Jan 29, 2018 2:20 pm  

We need to wallop Coventry and win for a bloody change.

But as you intimate a three week wait is ludicrous.

[Jemmo]

Re: Dons v Batley 28th January 3pm : Mon Jan 29, 2018 2:23 pm  

I wouldn't want our ability to beat Coventry into misleading us that that is our best side.