You would think , in this day & age ,the powers that be would work on a ball surface that is easier to control from the players point of view. Surely it would add to the spectacle of the game to see less ball going to ground.

I think Wire made 18 errors.

Even before the first game of the season there were adverse comments from players from various clubs saying they were not totally happy with the new balls. Presumably we have accepted the new balls due to a sponsorship deal. The quality of the balls has to be the priority not how much sponsorship money there is. It detracts from the game when both sides keep dropping it ... nobody likes a scrum and everyone loves the ball whizzing about through the hands. Please use the best balls.

We can't use the ball as an excuse though, Hull had the same ball.

Tony mentions the balls in his post match interview. Apparently they're not bad in the rain, but if it's just a bit wet (wet pitch but not raining or showers) it turns into a bar of soap. Tony makes the point that all teams have to deal with it, so it's a level playing field in that regard, but that it's equally terrible and should be changed.

see Player Concerns www.loverugbyleague.com/news_108 ... cerns.html

see Player Concerns www.loverugbyleague.com/news_108 ... cerns.html

Turning point for me was Bridge's pathetic kick that Lineham just reached out and caught, then ran practically the full length to score.

After that, I just knew that it wouldn't be our day.

Gutted about the result but no doubt as almost always in rugby league the better team won on the day. A bit disappointed with the crowd (wasn't expecting a sell out obviously) but thought it was poor taking all that has been said into consideration - money, ko time, potential trouble - none seen or expected by me tbh.

It looked a roughly 50/50 split but was expecting 6k from us with (based on what was being said on the forum) 8-10K from Hull.

Good luck to them in the Final btw

I said pre game that I would have no issues if Hull turned up and rolled us and I stand by it.

Errors cost us the game. Tragedy is that it was actually missed conversions that cost us the result.

it could be worse,just imagine what our feelings would be like if we got to wembley and were beaten by that lot..would make a horrible trek back home..like it was back in the early 90`s....

I thought exactly the same thing, at that time we were dominant and that just seemed to lift Hull and gave them some self belief...Where as for us an avalanche of errors followed early in the tackle count..
We just didn't build any pressure..

AS well as the game being a let down, i was quite annoyed by the persistant ing around at the back of the stand by some of our fans, who'd decided they were ignoring the ticket numbers on their seats and just plonked themselves drum and all ,together. And standing behind the back row of seats as well.

There were a couple of tosspots having a running battle with the stewards throughout the game, and would not let it lie, including sittin on the stairs rather than go find a seat, it was really annoying and the lad in question was lucky he wasn't 'assisted' from the stadium at one point.

Pity because from what's been said on the other threads, it sounds like most of the fans there were a credit to the game. Still, there's always a few at every game, just a pity they were our lot.

Honestly not that bothered. I felt Hull wanted it more and I'm not going to begrudge them a Wembley trip after us being there 3 times out of the last 4 and winning the trophy. I felt quite happy for them, shades of us in 2009, their season I feel hinged on getting to Wembley as did ours, so not bad feelings.

I felt after Hull got a foothold in the game, we coasted, thinking we would come good, only to look up at the clock and find we had 10 minutes left, only then deciding to throw the kitchen sink at the opposition. I honestly thought we'd nick it at the death but alas, we aren't quite lucky enough to be Saints and Wigan just yet. I can now watch the final, cheer on Hull without having my chest pumping like mad for 80 minutes.

We can now look ahead, and I feel we could take the league leaders and make it a second grand final appearance in a row in things go our way. Some of our players need to get their attitudes in check though, namely Waterhouse, he's a big game player and that's fine, but at points yesterday he looked like he didn't give a damn.

I still baffled by the 'Hull wanted it more' statement? Really? Seriously you don't think we tried hard out there? They wanted it equally but there's only one winner in a cup game.