Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:03 am  

Hull are bang on form. Seemed to have battered Wakefield at the weekend to make it 3 wins in a row, being so good they made a Wakefield Grandma attack James Child on the pitch.

Saints on the other hand, despite a much improved showing after Royce showed them my motivational speech from here, aren't in stellar form. Having Josh backup and play 2 in a row would help and maybe there might be one or two more returning? Too much to ask for Leon to show his face?

Really wouldn't fancy this if were playing at the KC. When did we last defeat Hull? I can't remember doing so last year, didn't they hammer us in the fog then beat us again at their place and we drew there this year?

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:12 am  

we will beat ull comfortably mate.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:33 am  

You were terrible against Wigan but you showed enough in the Wire game to suggest you'll win this one IMO. We've won 3 but we've played 3 of the worst teams in the league. I think it'll be a narrow win for the Saints as I just can't see them losing 3 in a row.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:38 am  

I'm pretty upbeat about this match and the majority of the remaining games. I said at the start of the season that if we were in the mix by this time of year then we'd have a chance of a top 2 finish, as our run-in is a little generous compared to the other top sides. We're probably too far adrift to expect that now, but I still reckon we should be finishing the regular season strongly, and we should be placing real emphasis on sending out a message when we play Huddersfield.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:48 am  

Hull are missing Longy and Gleeson and I don't know whether Yeaman will be healthy after his fit at the weekend (no idea what the risks are re epilepsy). If those three are missing then the main worry for us is the forwards as they are massive, both in size and work rate. Our forwards have to step up another gear from last week. While they were a ton better than against Wigan, they are still not taking on full responsibility and they need to, for the full 80 minutes (pro-rata, as appropriate). Our backs especially (but also James Graham) need to learn to hold on to the ball as it was primarily our ball retention (or lack thereof) which let us down on Friday night. Yet again. And we also have to do better defending our line. That aspect of our defence has been atrocious for the last three weeks.

We have no excuses now as we are going into the game on Friday with only four players absent (Clough, Pryce, Wheeler and Shenton). That is no more than most teams at this time of year. We should be kicking on now and making a win for ourselves. We do that by hard work, good ball skills, much improved defence and some craft.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:54 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

Hull are missing Longy and Gleeson and I don't know whether Yeaman will be healthy after his fit at the weekend (no idea what the risks are re epilepsy).

Them missing Long and Gleeson doesn't matter. Every other side in SL bar us carries enough squad depth to cope with injuries and they have a senior player as backup to most positions and certainly all the key positions.

I would expect Yeaman to play. It's something he's known about for years and he will be getting the best medical care for it. I suspect the heat and a bang to the head he apparently got can't have helped.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:56 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

If those three are missing then the main worry for us is the forwards as they are massive, both in size and work rate. Our forwards have to step up another gear from last week.

I think our pack is fully equipped to deal with hefty opposition forwards. Indeed, if Clough does return this weekend then our pack will be enormous.

Where we seem to struggle is with sides (like the two we've just faced) who are adept at systematically manipulating the speed of the play the ball. We were better in this department on Friday, but over the last 18 months or so we've been made to look a little naive by the more professional sides. I'm not sure I'd put Hull in that bracket.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:01 am  

I think its a good game for us, actually. Hull have a mean pack, but its not quite in the same league as Wire, who we payed well enough against. Successfully taking on the likes of O'Meley and Fitzgibbon would be a big confidence boost for our lads IMO.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:08 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Successfully taking on the likes of O'Meley and Fitzgibbon would be a big confidence boost for our lads IMO.

This is what I was thinking about really.

I agree that any team will now seek to slow us down around the ruck. Bradford, Wigan and Warrington (to a lesser extent) made that a definite tactic. Whether our halves are experienced enough yet to adapt to a different style of play to counteract this I don't know. Simmons will know about that. Meanwhile, our forwards have to step up yet another gear from last week and aim to dominate, not just compete.

Actually, I think just winning a match would give the lads a boost! Especially if all our players managed to conquer their dropsey problem.

Re: Hull FC - Tough ask? : Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:30 am  

we are going to have to do something quickly...1 point from our last 3 games is not good enough..