Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 6:50 am  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

I don’t think Danny Richardson or Theo Fages are marquee players. They are average half backs really, but Saints are running away with the league. Pre season some may even have said Lolohea and Myler look a better half back pairing, our problem is both have had terrible seasons and Lolohea has now been written off as a half back.

You can't have 4 marquee players so not all will be and richardson and farges are average at best IMO but saints have great players at 1 and 9 and lomax is way above average for SL but it's their forward dominance that is giving those players the edge. They're way above leeds (and the rest of SL) as a unit in those spine positions. Hull and wire are the best of the rest but ours and wire's forwards aren't a match for saints.

It all depends on your starting position but when none of your spine are that good (as in leeds), there is no point spending big on a centre and back rower as the gains won't be there. If leeds had signed austin and coote instead of hurrell and merrin you'd be in a whole different place now

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 6:57 am  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

I don’t think Danny Richardson or Theo Fages are marquee players. They are average half backs really, but Saints are running away with the league. Pre season some may even have said Lolohea and Myler look a better half back pairing, our problem is both have had terrible seasons and Lolohea has now been written off as a half back.

Our halves pairing is Lomax/Fages, Richardson is back up (and as far as back ups go a quality squad player).

Lomax has been sensational for most of the last two years - probably our best alongside Coote this season.

But it is true that our forwards make their life easier. I think we have a genuinely world class front row in Walmsley/Roby/Thompson and some back rows with very good hands in Zeb and Paolo which provide lots of options for them.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 6:57 am  

The problem is somebody clearly thought Lolohea was good enough to be one of our starting halfbacks, despite having barely played there in the NRL and playing regularly in NSW cup at full back. That signing was made before Sinfield returned, so I guess it would have to have been another of GH's projects. Then when we went for marquee players we assumed halfback was fine - hence Hurrell and Merrin, as you say neither being in essential positions.

Hopefully we will survive and the message will be branded across all of the Leeds management - halfback first and second priority, everything else once that's sorted.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:18 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

The problem is somebody clearly thought Lolohea was good enough to be one of our starting halfbacks, despite having barely played there in the NRL and playing regularly in NSW cup at full back. That signing was made before Sinfield returned, so I guess it would have to have been another of GH's projects. Then when we went for marquee players we assumed halfback was fine - hence Hurrell and Merrin, as you say neither being in essential positions.

Hopefully we will survive and the message will be branded across all of the Leeds management - halfback first and second priority, everything else once that's sorted.

Nail on the head. Major mistake

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:24 am  

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

The problem is somebody clearly thought Lolohea was good enough to be one of our starting halfbacks, despite having barely played there in the NRL and playing regularly in NSW cup at full back. That signing was made before Sinfield returned, so I guess it would have to have been another of GH's projects. Then when we went for marquee players we assumed halfback was fine - hence Hurrell and Merrin, as you say neither being in essential positions.

Hopefully we will survive and the message will be branded across all of the Leeds management - halfback first and second priority, everything else once that's sorted.

It's been interesting to watch Leeds ebb and flow this season. We started out looking terrible in the pack, especially when Ward got injured. Signing Ava has made me a little happier, and I think Oldeski has put a manful stint in this year so far, and of course Merrin has been solid.
We have the makings of a great pack in another couple of years, but I still think we're light on pace and power; I'd like to see another quality prop to partner Ava, and then have Oledski and Holroyd as longer-term back-ups (can keep Peteru/Crosby/maybe Singleton in meantime). I liked the idea of Joel Thompson in the second row because he's far more dynamic than anybody else we have in the forwards, we are way too slow on the edges (Ferres v Clubb for evidence if you needed it).
I don't think we're out of the woods in the pack yet if we want to do better next year. Hooker appears an issue too of course.
It's like, we plug one leak and another emerges somewhere else across the dam.
The good news is that we are only 3-4 good signings (in the right positions) away from being a very competitive side again, with some real talent for the future at the club.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:28 am  

KaeruJim wrote:

It's been interesting to watch Leeds ebb and flow this season. We started out looking terrible in the pack, especially when Ward got injured. Signing Ava has made me a little happier, and I think Oldeski has put a manful stint in this year so far, and of course Merrin has been solid.
We have the makings of a great pack in another couple of years, but I still think we're light on pace and power; I'd like to see another quality prop to partner Ava, and then have Oledski and Holroyd as longer-term back-ups (can keep Peteru/Crosby/maybe Singleton in meantime). I liked the idea of Joel Thompson in the second row because he's far more dynamic than anybody else we have in the forwards, we are way too slow on the edges (Ferres v Clubb for evidence if you needed it).
I don't think we're out of the woods in the pack yet if we want to do better next year. Hooker appears an issue too of course.
It's like, we plug one leak and another emerges somewhere else across the dam.
The good news is that we are only 3-4 good signings (in the right positions) away from being a very competitive side again, with some real talent for the future at the club.

Fair assessment that. Lets hope we survive this year for it come to fruition.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:57 am  

Biff Tannen wrote:

Just saying Hull are garbage in comparison to even your team of a few seasons back, that even in my opinion again was not all that as proved by its failure to make a GF and being in 3rd place now proves the strength of the competition as a whole.

If you disagree that's fair enough but you clearly threw the toys out and on the offensive. If you can't handle other people's opinions then stick to your own board where you can all blissfully blow smoke up each others aris's and pretend everything is rosy in the garden.

Because I disagree, I am throwing the toys???? interesting, near Bipolar world you live in. I'd perhaps suggest if you cannot handle a response its yourself who should think twice before logging on, as clearly evidenced above.

If you care to read most threads on the Hull FC forum, you will see its far from an "ignorance is bliss" board.

Too many cling to prior seasons when (usually) their own team dominated and convince themselves that fit was far better then. Reality here is, as I previously posted, there is one team who are consistently performing well, play to their potential in 90% of their games and are well coached. There is at the moment one genuine contender to compete with them but they have faltered recently. In a salary capped sport it should come down to who prepared better / recruited better (both on and off the pitch). Its taken some time but there is clearly an evening out of the playing field.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 10:01 am  

Biff Tannen wrote:

Seriously? You saying those Hull players were thinking careers on the line when clearly downing tools in some of the stuffings they have taken this season?

Anyway, nice little sermon but i still think this Hull team is garbage compared to a few years back and is punching way above its weight in 3rd. And BTW these sportsman are being paid good money so the fans that pay the money to fund the wages that make these pros have comfortable lives means that fans are entitled to have an opinion.

This isn't about Hull, it's about professional RL players in general. Anyone who has achieved this level in such a brutal game deserves better than to be called garbage. If you don't think they are very good players, that's fine, but garbage? Did you want to be a RL player when you were growing up? How far did you get?

And the players don't earn good money at all. Their pay is a pittance for what they do.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:19 am  

Mild mannered Janitor wrote:

If you care to read most threads on the Hull FC forum, you will see its far from an "ignorance is bliss" board.

No thanks.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:21 am  

Mr. Zucchini Head wrote:

This isn't about Hull, it's about professional RL players in general. Anyone who has achieved this level in such a brutal game deserves better than to be called garbage. If you don't think they are very good players, that's fine, but garbage? Did you want to be a RL player when you were growing up? How far did you get?

And the players don't earn good money at all. Their pay is a pittance for what they do.

In many cases it's very good pay compared to what else they might do though.

I do think players generally get more stick than they deserve; I'm certainly not tough enough to go over that white line on a weekend and get battered. The standard of even a failed SL player is way above the vast majority of posters on here too of course.

But then there are some legitimate frustrations too, because young lads who get picked up and have never really had to earn a living in the "real world" can and do get spoilt sometimes.

I'm not sure where you're all going with this semantic argument over the word "garbage". It is easy to criticise from a keyboard, yes, and similarly fans do support players' wages and have a right to an opinion, yes.