Hull seem to promise everything but deliver nothing.

Over the past 4 years, I would agree. However 2007 we finished 4th, 2006 finished 2nd and Grand Final, 2005 CC cup win... a trend has formed since Agar joined, which is what we need to reverse with the new regime.

Success like that should have been bulit on.To take such massive backwards steps like Hull have,the blame cant be put on the shoulders of Agar.The board must take some responsibility.

That's fair enough. That's how I felt about us signing Deacon a few years ago; low risk signing not costing the earth.

It must grate losing Briscoe to Leeds IIRC and adding Aspinwall?

This doesn't make sense though because Hull have just signed four overseas players for next season.

Warrington didn't make their way through signing players whose monkeys uncles were British. Guys like the Monaghans, King, Hicks, Hodgson were/are all on the overseas quota.

Simon Moran spent a lot of money on British signings: Gleeson, Bridge, Grix, Bracek, Reardon, Parker, Barnett, Morley, Johnson, Carvell, Higham, Mathers, Myler, Atkins. Most of those were either GB/England internationals or became internationals with us.

I'm trying to think who we signed that was on a "Kolpak" rule, I think it might have been Logan Swann and Henry Fa'afili. Not sure if the Andersons counted off quota, Vinnie certainly might. But I think it's stretching it to say Simon Moran was able to buy Warrington's success by getting these off quota players and that route is now closed. The players that made a difference were either British or quota Australian players.

Well eight of them have won trophies with us so that's pretty successful plus I would say Gleeson was successful as well.

The only really disappointing one IMO was Reardon. Bracek and Barnett were not great but they didn't have big expectations surrounding them either. Parker had a good first year then went into the 'okay but not special' category.

You might be first to see Hull's new players first hand ''If its true you come to KC
for the first game of the new season

At a recent fans forum , Pearson said the Hethringtons and Agar were involved with Briscoes move to L**ds and he had the phone records to prove it . Other's involved have since been sacked from the club.
A total overhaul of the youth structure has or is under way so this sort of thing never happens again.
As for the lack of youngsters coming through to first grade in recent seasons seems to coincided with Agar's reign as head coach . Good at spotting talent but never really blooded anyone in the first team apart from Reece Lynn .
Aspinwal and Martin are on 1 year deals and wont be here for the 2013 season and with a host of other contracts up at the end of 2012 . We should see Pearson's reign as chairman really start to kick in.

Well you are away to us first game so you can assess us then.

The last few years have been awful - and like you say, the board should have invested fuerther to build on th cup finals. Instead the did nothing, lived off the profits. It is thought that due to the drop in attendances last year we are looking at a small loss, and with the tex bill coming they wanted a get out. Pearson was there. Nearly all the salary cap was taken up but Peter Gentle wanted Lynch so we signed him. Martin and Aspinwall on 1 year deals are not as bad as they seem. There are a lot of kids i feel that are ready to step up but due to Agar's insistence on not playing them at all, we're not sure so we had to get a bit of experience in just in case.

FWIW, i think our starting 17 will be stronger than last year on the whole.

2011 - 2012

Phelps - McKinnon ------> McKinnon offers a more potent attack than Phelps
Whiting - Sharp --------> I expect Sharp to kick on this year under P Gentle
Turner - Martin ---------> Not sure on this, Turner played quite well at the back end
Yeaman - Yeaman
Briscoe - Yeaman
Horne - Horne -----------> Suffers when having to organise, has Seymour/Ellis now
Long - Seymour -----------> Younger and fitter, good organiser and kicking game
O'Meley - O'Meley
Houghton - Heremaia ---------> NRL Finalist, would have played for NZ to but 4 injury
Dowes - Moa --------------> Probably our best prop in the 2nd half of the year
Manu - Manu -----------> Maybe finally we will utilise him properly
Tickle - Tickle ------------> Expect him to take the captaincy, very underrated player
Fitzgibbon - Westerman ---------> Looks as though we will have a pivot at 13 finally


All in all i am quite optimistic, think it comes mainly from off the field developments. New training facilities, coaching staff, conditioner etc. Pearson stated that the investment in the club had been abysmal in the last few years, something which has already been remedied. Maybe not this year, but in the next few i am hopefull we will be challenging

I take your point Sally but I think it comes down to more than a simple in/out list. Your points about our youth development are very accurate though and is a major part of Pearson/Gentle's plans.

The main key to us is Seymour, if we can get fit HB to lead us around, that in itself will be a huge plus. Horne is still a good player but needs a leader next to him. We would kill for a Monaghan type player.

Long and Gleeson aren't a loss to us, they hardly played. A fit, trouble free Gleeson of a few years ago would be a loss to anyone but we wont miss what we never had. Washbrook (far too slow) n Dowes wouldnt have been in the 17 bar injuries either. Lauaki is a total liability, a penalty machine who doesnt run his weight. Young Briscoe, we'll have to wait and see but potentially could be the worse loss, having said that he wouldnt have got in the first team this season probably. Radford will be missed by us more than many Hull fans realise and Fitz goes without saying. You wire fans will remember his performance at your place at Easter time, he was the main reason we won.

Therefore i think Lynch and O'Caroll improve our front row whilst having reservation about our back 3 if imnjuries strike. However, I look forward to more expansive play from the back 3. In Westerman and Whiting we have 2 of the best footballers around and either would be a fantastic LF for us.

Agar was a joke, and his departure above all else will have most FC fans hoping for better times.

It always took years to turn around. You could never turn it round in a season - name one club in the past that has turned it round in one season by signing loads of Kolpak or passport players. It has never happened. With Warrington it took five years to go from Simon Moran taking us over to us winning the Challenge Cup, the point I was making at the start of the thread though was why are Hull signing the players they are, guys like Tony Martin and Aspinwall etc. Those are just signings to get bodies into the squad, it's preparing for a battle at the lower end of the table. This is exactly what Warrington did in 2001/02 off season and we had a disastrous season.

I can see the constraints on Hull, they wouldn't be able to go out and make wholesale signings for 2012 so maybe the plan is just to make do with what they have got next year and try to make some signings for 2013 when they have cap space and existing players coming off contract, but they need to have a credible year next year, if they struggle they will have the fans saying its another false dawn and ambitious players will never go there, they will just sign players that want a pay day and/or can't get another club.

The great unknown in this is what will Gentle be like as a coach, if he is a coaching genius he might be good at getting the best out of what Hull have got and can get them to a decent position but I think he will come under a lot of pressure if Hull are below Agar and Wakefield next year, Wakey have made some decent signings although they are thin in the pack.