I thought last seasons home game against Hull was a great match, our lads gave their all against a very strong, powerful talented Hull side. We were eventually beaten by the better side who were just wore us down, it was a very encouraging performance by Trinity. We never seemed to reach those heights of effort, desire and will again that season. In typical Trinity fashion we switched off for the rest of the season.
This seasons Hull side if anything look even stronger, if Kelly is switched on he just could be a great signing for Hull, they at times last season seemed a bit lacking in creativity.
We look a better side on paper and our coach has some selection headaches. Hull will be favorites and I think the bookies give us an 8 or 10 point start.
What game plan would you employ to give us our best chance, it is a given that the lads are going to have to give 100 %, every ounce of energy, defend like their lives depend on it etc.
I think that John Kear will be advising Chester to attack Hulls perceived strength ( I admit they have many ). I just do not see us us getting much joy with a passing, expansive type game, I simply do not think we will get any joy following that route, when you hear fans screaming `get it passed out `I cringe.
I think that we may get some success by simply running at their big forwards all afternoon, simple one out plays, dummy half runs, making their big men, their middle defenders, turn around, make more tackles that they can cope with, lets try and tire them out.
A typical Kear style game would suit me, simple, no mistakes, look after the ball, only hand over procession in their third, and no penalties.
Last season we gave away loads of penalties and our kicking game was poor, I am sure we can improve on this front.

I actually think a bearing factor in that game was I think we picked up about 4 injuries took their toll on us, and restricted us on inter changes in the final quarter.

I think going into the final quarter. we were very much in the game, and I think the scores were level.

Ant Tupou, Simon, Lyne, and I think Molloy all went off, and we were Max'd out on the interchange bench, and that is when they took their advantage.

I'm not convinced yet, that Hull are stronger than last year.

Should be a good game, and I fancy our chances, providing we start well

I'm not sure we need to 'change' our game plan yet.

We have good attacking players out wise and we need to use them.
Clearly if we are beaten down the middle it won't help the guys out wide at all.

Fifita, Huby, England and Allgood are all capable of mixing it with the Hull forwards. And Kirmond and Ashurst look on form too.
The key to me is ball control. If we give the ball up easily, we will be tired when we need to be strong.

We were at our best when Max was returning every ball with interest (and not letting it bounce like Grix sometimes does) and Finn was pinning teams back with his kicking.
Williams needs to show what he is made of in this area. Controlling the ball will often be down to the types of play we are making and he now has that role.

I'm looking forward to the game though to be honest I'm not sure what the best half back and hooker combinsation is.
Hope Chester does.

I hope we don't knock on from the kick-off or alternatively don't kick out on the full. Anything after that is a bonus.
Don't you just hate the end of the close season.

I think the first 20 minutes will be a huge arm wrestle between to the two big packs. We've got to play to our strengths which is said big pack, good halfs and great finishers. Like you say they'll probably be lots of one out plays to the Props, especially with the likes of Fifita, England and Huby playing, to try to smash some meters down the middle, plus also with them utilising the offload. Keep picking out their middle men and running at them, making them tackle more and more, trying to get them flat footed to then create spaces. Then the likes of Wood will then be looking at scooting from halfback if there's any gaps in their defense.

The weather will depend on how much we sling it about but we have to use our back line, especially with the finishing talent we have. If Williams can do his magic, with his long passes and kicking game, that will let him feed the likes of Johnstone, Tupou etc. Also getting good accurate kicks to their wings when attacking in their 20 is a must, as I don't think their wingers are the best under the high ball.

Obviously starting well is a must, everyone on it from the whistle, with a fast line defense and we've got to be all over Kelly from the go . We don't need to give Hull a start and let them gain early confidence, otherwise it will be a long day. Also this year we've seriously got to cut out on the silly penalties, and the unforced errors. That alone will keep us well in the games, especially against the top teams.

On paper I think we are stronger, certainly of the backs were we have lost, Pryce and Yeaman, who have been replaced by Connor, Griffin and Kelly, who should give us the a better attacking edge than we lacked at times last year. Our strongest area our forwards are weaker as we have lost Pritchard, but we have plenty of cover including a couple of young forwards.

Tough game this for us, we haven't impressed in pre season, but haven't played many first team players and I don't read too much into them.

Very impressed with your signings, your pack looks good and have pace and good pivots, fully expect you to improve on last season.

What is the capacity, as expect we will bring over 3k plus, will have to get get my tickets before the game.

I actually disagree I think Hulls team is weaker... signing Kelly is a risk ... as every club he has played for realised... no Pritchard! Both Ellis and Minechello over 35 now... Griffin is a hit and miss player... and Connor needs time to settle... Yeaman gone.

We are bigger and more stable in the pack. Our younger players are a year more experienced.



This will be and excellent measure of our development and (and thus says something about the way I approach life) will be disappointed if we don't win this home fixture

Any which way you look at it, this is a tough match. Hull were very good last year and as a young coach Redford will have learned a lot from mistakes he made.

We are stronger than last year, more settled and we have more game breakers than any season in the last 6 or 7 years.

Didn't Hull play a full strength team in the defeat to Salford last week?

Pretty much full strength, this is the only game out of 5 friendlies we have played near full strength, we sounded poor to be fair, but it's only a friendly.

It easier to pick out the negatives (and positives) about any signings, same could be said for some of your signings like Grix, Huby and Williams. On paper our starting 17 is better than last year IMO, but we will have to see how it goes.

Really looking forward to this game, good test for both sides.

Dave K.

I think our capacity at the moment is around the 8k mark.

My advice would be to get there early.

Call in for a pint in the Ruddy Duck pub, about 10 minutes walk away from the ground, I will be in, as it is my pre match ritual

All the heroics in the world from the forwards will come to nought if we don't tighten up our right side online defence. The likes of Sneyd and Castlefords Gale have exploited this weakness to the full in the recent past.

Probably agree with your post spook more than most of the others. Hull haven't done well in the friendlies and you're correct in that they are an aging side. I've only seen the stills from the Salford game but Kelly looks to have quite a spare tyre for a half back.
Over the season I think Wakey will be like Cas have been for the last 3, they will have to score a lot of tries (which they are quite capable of) to offset a defence that looks very leaky to me on the evidence of the fist half of the Cas friendly.

He'll have learnt to stop whispering to the horses on Heath common for starters.

For me the defensive problems that we faced with Gale is something we struggle with against most halves we come across, and that is the fact we allow our opposing pivots far too much time and space.

Dont know how many times last year Miller and Finn were put on the floor or getting a poor kick in on the last due to been pressurised, we never did that.