Is everybody with our signings so far? Holdsworth and Ellis will be great players for us but I'm slightly underwhelmed with the rest.

Galea: good player on his day but to old now. He will be on a large salary, take a quota place in a position we are well covered in. This was the kind of signing I'd rather avoid

Crooks: not see a great deal of him but at least he's young and British. However I feel in lineham we have better

Johnson: not happy with this one. Talks of lopini paea and John Bateman and we end up with a player I've barely heard of

Arundel: again young and British but poor fitness record. From what I've seen in previous seasons he is a previous downgrade on turner.

The point I'm trying to make is are these players what you had in mind when AP made that bold statement all those months ago? I think hand on heart you will have to say no

I trust Peter Gentle.

I liken his approach slightly to 'Moneyball'. True Story - Book/Film (starring Brad Pitt) about Baseball's Oakland A's and their Coach Billy Beane.

The whole approach was based on statistics and acquiring the best squad (if not the most expensive), in line with the job they perform.

Although we have a decent budget to spend, unlike the A's who couldn't compete with other clubs, the recruitment was more about what each player could do for the team.

For instance, in Baseball it's all about getting on base and getting round for a run. Now some unglamorous players get round for more runs than the so called Stars who occasionally hit it in to the crowds and take the glory.

Also it looked at what the player really did. For example, if a pitcher concedes a run (or Base move), it may not have been a bad pitch, more a fielding error, but on the stats it goes against the pitcher. To apply to RL, it's like a centre dropping a pass. On the surface you blame the centre, however it may be that the pass was poor and actually the centre was in a good position and would have made a break if the pass was up to scratch. A minor point, but collectively in the game could mean the difference between winning and losing.

So to apply to Hull, Johnson - who's signing doesn't set the world alight, may be here to do a speciifc job and give Gentle more value than a more marque signing. That might be to play 50 minutes, get 10-12 yards per drive and make 30+ tackles per match

Time will tell, but overall, I think everyone who Gentle has brought to the club during 2012, has improved the team. So I am happy to go with all the signings he continues to make.

We just need to remain realistic. An improvement to 4th or 5th next season will be a good achievement, especially when you consider the qulaity and consistancy of the teams ahead of us.

The perfect analogy and this could be extended to what Dave Braylsford has done for British cycling. Its the small things that matter and cumulatively they can bring about a massive improvement in performance and, therefore, results.
As you say PG obviously looks at each individuals contribution and what it can bring to the team.

British Cycling - another great example of getting all the right components to make the team perform to the best of its ability.

I think Gentle's approach is subtle. He knows what he wants/needs and he is quietly going about his business to achieve that.

Brian Smith?

The team he put together played for each other and won the prem in 1991 (sorry Noel the work was done for you). Greg and Paddy did a great job in the half's but compare the team man for man v's Widnes, Saints or Wigan at that time