www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl ... 9d70c0b919

www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl ... 9d70c0b919

www.totalrl.com/former-hull-fc-forward-retires/ knew we'd had a good few seasons but according to totalrl we won the world cup in 2016 lol, great journalism

www.totalrl.com/former-hull-fc-forward-retires/ knew we'd had a good few seasons but according to totalrl we won the world cup in 2016 lol, great journalism

Some may ague he retired the end of the 2015 season

Then they would be wrong, there is no doubt he wasn't as good as we hoped he would be, but was still a good player for us and had played a big part in the 2016 season on and off the field.

Agreed, I guess peoples only gripe is the alleged salary he commanded.

Stole a wage whilst he was here and did virtually nothing, wasn't ever really fit and barely did 20 minutes a game in the first part of the season, massively disappointing considering his 'marquee' tag. He was never going to stay a second season in any case despite all the bluster, good job for us really as we did better without him.

I love you knocker, but come on , a think frank deserves better than that , for what he brought to the club

I liked him. Didn't he make more than 2,000 metres at an average gain >8m so hardly sacking it off? Also nice how the timing of his departure enabled the signing of Kelly on a free. A very good career and was a pleasure to see him play his part in a side that etched its name in history.

I#m sure off the field he was a lovely bloke and many seemed to like him, on the field though name me one game that he took by storm or was the major catalyst for a win?

He had a few moments granted but as I said at the time, coming on for 10 minute stints because he wasn't fit caned us at times and for the most part was innocuous and a massive let down. When he left I pointed out Thompson (who we just let go) made same amount of tackle busts(or clean breaks, I forget which) and around 40-50% more tackles than FP. Making metres because you've come on for the last 10 minutes of a half doesn't really give him credit IMHO.

Sorry but his affability and fun loving nature doesn't make up for the fact he was bang average on the field, we certainly didn't miss him because we would have lost more important players to stay under the cap given we'd already lost JA and DH to keep us under even with FP going.

What Frank did for us was lift the team to a new level by making the players around him think that we could achieve things with him in the team. He was great for moral and galvanised the imports as a family. Unfortunately he either wasnt played right by Radford, was a bit past it or one of my main memories was him warming up, the crowd starts getting all excited, the opposition players start to look aprehensive then he comes on, the ball is passed to him......and he drops it! Happened too many times imo

And yet we played no worse overall without him in 2017 and minus 2 quality players when many were bricking it. The 'making the other players believe they could achieve something' is cobblers. Again stating he "galvanised" the players is a nonsense, you simply have no evidence of that, that's what the coach does, he came across as a likeable young man who got on with the other players, he was never seen on the pitch to be directing players or getting them to pull their socks up, he was quiet as a mouse on the pitch.

Sorry but that's the reality, a nit part player outperformed on the pitch by someone like Thompson, who was on a wedge far in excess of his value but taken only because an NRL club were paying the majority of his wages.

The hype surrounding Pritchard got to fans of all clubs and players - when his name was on the team sheet opposition teams changed their tack to cope with him leaving the rest of the team to capitalise, opposition fans also thought they had less of a chance of winning - I believe it made the rest of the team bel13ve that little bit more that they could go that extra 1% that seperates the top teams from the also rans.

The reality was he wasnt that good but that didnt matter - his presence was what mattered

I don't think he was ever fit, probably way off being fit to be honest, which resulted in him playing relatively low minutes. We also used him mostly through the middle, instead of in the 2nd row running through the channels, which is what we were used to seeing from him in the NRL. Both of these factors mean we were all a bit underwhelmed compared to what we were expecting from him.

However, when he was on he made a clear impact. Despite low minutes he was the 4th highest forward for carries, tackle busts & yards, with an average gain only behind Scott Taylor. The opposition had to think differently when he came on as he sucked 3/4 men into each tackle. I think we lacked that impact off the bench in 2017, which is (I believe) why we've brought back Micky Paea.

He clearly had a big impact off the pitch too. Don't forget he was a huge name when we signed him, it signalled our intent as a club, and a long with the signings of Taylor, Fonua & Manu (plus others), we saw one of the biggest shifts in fortune we've ever seen at the club. He was a big part of that.

Whatever people think he did or didn't do on the pitch, He increased my kids enthusiasm for all things FC, he was they favorite player and cemented them as life long Hull fans

Never mind your kids enthusiasm, it increased mine!!! Its a long time since such a high profile name was signed by any SL club, let along Hull FC.

Did he leave a trail of destruction behind him on the pitch, no not really. Did the opposition have to think twice when he was on the pitch, absolutely. The opposition had to change their game plan and hence gave us an advantage.

unfortunately many see things in only black and white (no pun intended) they either see a player play outstandingly well otherwise they are labelled rubbish / waste of money.

Pritchard did a decent job for us, will never be remembered as an all time great, but as someone who put bums on seats, did his fair share of off field commercial stuff and is one of just 17 people in the world who can say "I help break the hoodoo". For that alone I am thankful to him.