Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:34 am  

thehullwhitestar wrote:

I'm very very happy to see the back of Radford, Dowes, Lauaki and Washbrook but as ordinary as they all were, we can't just replace them in our squad with untried academy players.

5 forwards out and only two in, should surely mean that we plan to have another two forwards coming in to address the balance?

I would guess that there will be at least one more forward, not sure about a second.

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:38 am  

tommyfromhull wrote:

So you would play them over Manu, Tickle, Westerman or Whiting, just to try them out? Or would it be because of injury?

When the inevitable injuries occur of course.

We only have three established back rowers at the club. At least one of those three could be missing every week on average. Not to mention the probability of Tickle having to cover our very-light-on-numbers front row when injuries hit there as well.

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:42 am  

I can see everyone point regards short of experienced players.

So should we have kept Dowes and Washbrook then?

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:58 am  

Some of these youngsters should have been given an opportunity last season rather than Agar posting them to 18th man all the time. Now we have a couple more potential players that could step up , Gentle will find it more difficult to give everyone a place within the 17.

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 1:04 pm  

Realistically were not gonna achieve anything this coming season so lets go with what we have and blood some youngsters who will either sink or swim but as a club we'll hopefully be the better for it in the 2013 season

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 1:11 pm  

Sebasteeno wrote:

Realistically were not gonna achieve anything this coming season so lets go with what we have and blood some youngsters who will either sink or swim but as a club we'll hopefully be the better for it in the 2013 season

I don't have a problem with that approach, to be honest. We're overdue on bringing a few youngsters through, so next year is as good a time as any whilst we're still in a transitional phase.

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:59 pm  

Rock God X wrote:

I don't have a problem with that approach, to be honest. We're overdue on bringing a few youngsters through, so next year is as good a time as any whilst we're still in a transitional phase.

I agree to a certain extent but throwing them in at the wrong time could also have a detrimental long term effect

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:26 pm  

Jake the Peg wrote:

I agree to a certain extent but throwing them in at the wrong time could also have a detrimental long term effect

Maybe in some cases, but usually, if they're going to make it, they'll make it. I remember Yeaman's first game against Saints (I think) at the Boulevard. To say he had a shocker would be an understatement, but he didn't seem to suffer too much in the longer term.

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:33 pm  

Sebasteeno wrote:

Realistically were not gonna achieve anything this coming season so lets go with what we have and blood some youngsters who will either sink or swim but as a club we'll hopefully be the better for it in the 2013 season

You think all of these changes have been made so that we can have an underachieving season? I reckon Pearson is expecting immediate, positive and perhaps even winning impact. He might as well have kept the previous team if he didn't mind either way.

[R.B.A]

Re: Tony Martin : Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:34 pm  

B0NES wrote:

Some of these youngsters should have been given an opportunity last season rather than Agar posting them to 18th man all the time. Now we have a couple more potential players that could step up , Gentle will find it more difficult to give everyone a place within the 17.

I posed the question on here mid-season asking whether as fans we would rather see our clubs stick to first choice players and go all out for the top 8 or throw in a few youngsters and possibly risk missing out on the 8.
As it turned out both clubs got in the 8 but got murdered in the first round with only Jordan Cox given any game-time so was it really worth it?
Would we both be in a better position now if we had finished 9th and 10th but Chris Green, Liam Cunningham, Ben Crooks, Liam Kent, James Green, Rich Beaumont, Chris Heil, Nick Johnson etc had half a dozen games each under their belts?