Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 8:09 am  

ComeOnYouUll wrote:

Utter shambles, it was as bad as I feared. Just thankful that Hiku missed four kicks and Rovers were not brilliant.

Nu Brown largely anonymous, no ideas going forward, discipline awful, Pele looks a hothead and players going down like ninepins.

I can see Pele picking up 3-4 games, EseEse one match and SAo given his record may cop a ban too.

No positives at all last night. It looks like it's going to be a long old season.

Pele was obviously riled by something, but what a silly thing to do when it was always going to get seen on the cameras, Sao should have known better but it was a grubby act by Parcell, (was there even a gouge in there), who should also get a ban . I thought Ese Ese's was instinctive, so maybe he'll get a fine .
But abject attacking and soft penalties seem our trademark this year, and the lack of halfbacks was never more evident against a team that had two very good ones. Hard to see where we can improve though with Truman not ready and after a bad injury, he won't be at the races from the get go.
We definitely need a lottery winner to buy us or I fear its a return to the Hetherington/Agar era.

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 8:42 am  

The Pele red card was an absolute joke. Not sure I’m going to be able to follow this game much longer……

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 8:49 am  

Dave K. wrote:

Think our pack could actually be ok, if (big if) we can sort out the discipline. Thought yellow card aside Ese Ese was good (can't see his stats on the SL site), Sao offloaded loads and Ashworth was decent. Ock was hit and miss did some good things, but also bad moments. Can't judge him on one game.

Our real issue in our backs and halfbacks, backs aren't big or strong enough, dominated nearly every tackle, although thought Martin did well. But having 3 out of 4 starting backs doesn't help. Walker is like Briscoe, all heart, but not sure he has the creative skills to be a top fullback.

Halfbacks are a real issue, desperately need Trueman back, can't fully judge Brown on that game, but I'd be looking to play him 9.

IMO our best pivots would be

1 Hoy
6 Trueman
7 Smith
9/13 Brown/Houghton

Let's be honest with our best side we are at best in about 8th place, a few injuries like we have already 10th/11th.

Not 100% convinced by Smith, but can't see anyone better, he has to improve us this year and get recruitment right.

Could really do with Pearson finding some money from somewhere to bring in 3 quality overseas players and a couple of domestic ones.

Bingo.

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 8:58 am  

Why did we actually sign Walker? We had a good quota fullback in Hoy and a promising backup in Littenn...if we were planning to release Hoy then fair enough but I don't understand why we've signed him, feels like the Briscoe v motu tony situation again. Maybe the Walker money should've gone on an extra second row

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:01 am  

GrahamBray wrote:

Pele was obviously riled by something, but what a silly thing to do when it was always going to get seen on the cameras, Sao should have known better but it was a grubby act by Parcell, (was there even a gouge in there), who should also get a ban . I thought Ese Ese's was instinctive, so maybe he'll get a fine .
But abject attacking and soft penalties seem our trademark this year, and the lack of halfbacks was never more evident against a team that had two very good ones. Hard to see where we can improve though with Truman not ready and after a bad injury, he won't be at the races from the get go.
We definitely need a lottery winner to buy us or I fear its a return to the Hetherington/Agar era.

We're already as bad the Agar era, he finished 11th, 12th, 6th and 8th (some years had 14 teams) I make that to be an average finish of 9th so not any different to our last two years.

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:01 am  

Just seen a clip of the Pele incident. He threw another punch at Lewis in the melee too. Don't think we'll see him for 6 weeks at least

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:02 am  

mwindass wrote:

Just seen a clip of the Pele incident. He threw another punch at Lewis in the melee too. Don't think we'll see him for 6 weeks at least

Similar to Dylan Napa in his debut for Catalan a couple of seasons ago

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:02 am  

Steve0 wrote:

Why did we actually sign Walker? We had a good quota fullback in Hoy and a promising backup in Littenn...if we were planning to release Hoy then fair enough but I don't understand why we've signed him, feels like the Briscoe v motu tony situation again. Maybe the Walker money should've gone on an extra second row

I think he is a good full back and we are thinking longer term as he's only 24. Hoy has a lot to prove, but he looked ok off the bench last night (though it wasn't hard to look better than some of the starters)

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:04 am  

The other damning factor for me last night was the effect that abject performance will have on the fanbase.
A crowd of 20,000, plenty of pay on the day spectators. A fantastic opportunity to attract and regain fans
How many of them are going to come back after that?
Even a pass holder of many years said last night that they were thinking of giving their pass up.
I also found it disrespectful that Tony Smith couldn't even be bothered to do a post match interview on RH last night in order to explain that performance to the fans and apologise.
The good will towards TS will also wear thin if this continues.

Re: So it all starts. Next Up HULL KR : Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:06 am  

UllFC wrote:

I think he is a good full back and we are thinking longer term as he's only 24. Hoy has a lot to prove, but he looked ok off the bench last night (though it wasn't hard to look better than some of the starters)

He is a good fullback, but just feels like when we resigned Fonua, we signed him because he's available, not because we needed him.