Bookies have us 9th above Cas, Wakey and Hudds, right now I'd probably take that.

probably the best we can hope for. Top of that bottom 4 mini league. I fear at least one of those clubs will be better than us though

Suprised you thinking that.

hopefully I'll be wrong but I doubt it

That is where I expect to see us finishing next season with the squad we have.

Think based on the past season and our recruitment its a fair assessment by the bookies for us to be 9th. Though I do think we could well push for 8th and even possibly 7th at a stretch and if we can keep relatively injury free. Think 2025 is just about steadying the ship and finally getting proper foundations with real structure in both training and game plans.
I think 1 to 5 will be Wigan ahead and KR, Cats, Wire & St's in any order. I'll be honest I'm not 100% convinced on Leeds at 6th for next season. Salford & Leigh will be there or thereabouts for 6th so all in all if we can sort out fitness and discipline and Cartwright is as good a coach as we hope then I don't think we'll be a million miles away from 7th/8th.

We have made big improvements in terms of now having real and proven leaders within in the club on & off the field too. I'm looking forward to seeing Staveley back in the 17 and under a quality Coach and with better support around him and the other young players.

Still think we are a little weak in certain areas and a little concerned on the use of quota spots particularly Cust but my thinking (and hope) is that we can't be anywhere near as bad as we were the season just gone.

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Think Leeds will be the surprise team for 2025 and pushing the top four.

I can see your point thinking 2025 is just about steadying the ship and finally getting proper foundations with real structure in both training and game plans. Unfortunately the way this poor quality recruitment has been made and the length of contracts leaves us with very little room for adding some quality and pace in the positions we need in 2026 so we could be left with virtually the same squad for 2026 and another year in the lower depths of S/L

Don't blame you, realistically it's between you and shudds for the bottom club, hopefully you'll finish above them.

I'm content with finishing 9th IF we are competing in games and losing narrowly and for the love of god can we win some games in August and September and end the season on a happy note for once!

Should we only offer one year contracts?

FWIW. Hull are trying to rebuild literally from the bottom. The recruitment looks remarkably sketchy to say the least. Abdull will more than likely be a huge disappointment as he consistently lets himself down. Asiata is a fraction of himself now he’s cleaned up his act. The other Leigh signings couldn’t get a gig over there neither could the 2 from Salford. Hull should have gone for 4 massive signings and over pay them to build from but overpaying for players like Hardaker and the like will leave you stagnating as Rovers did for years in the 90s and 2000. You can see the model won’t work and the frustrations will not be elevated by a Aussie coach directed by Richie Myler who has no experience in these matters.

For most of the players coming in this year yes with an extra year option in our favour.
I am sure you will agree that the length of contracts given for 2025 recruitment will be detrimental to the clubs recruitment for 2026.
You have previously said that the club may have to do some wheeling and dealing for 2026 with some of the players coming in to enable the club to strengthen in the areas we are weak so you have to question why give out longer contracts than necessary.
Hardly think S/L clubs would have been queuing up to sign the likes of Chamberlain,Hardaker,Holmes and Cust .

Cust, Hardaker, Holmes, Rapana all on two year deals which seems fair enough to me. We wouldn't have signed Asiata with a two year offer. Three years for Abdull is a risk and three years for Chamberlain is obvioulsy the outlier. But yes, if things don't work out for whatever reasons players move on.

Maybe some of these deals have clauses that haven't been made public like the one given to Gale.

You need to remember the current state of our club. We don't sign even half decent players without either paying them over the top wages or offering more years than other clubs. We are not an attractive option right now. Even the average players we've signed wouldn't have come here for only 1 year. Players need security.
The hope is next year these players, along with new coaching staff and back room teams, will stem the tide of hammerings we took last year and hopefully challenge for 8th or so. That will then show players for 2026 we may be a team worth joining and who wants to help with the playoff push, and continuing to build from there.
This is obviously stuff you have been told a hundred times in the past but you choose to consistently ignore and continue to expect us to sign players who just aren't available or flat out don't want to come to the club. It's a multi year project to get even a sniff of playoffs again.

I think we were & are (through the clubs own doing in cutting corners since 201icon_cool.gif in pretty much no man’s land in recruitment.
We aren’t as I’m sure even the most rose tinted would agree the most attractive club or team at present. We’ve had an awful lot of deadwood & rot to cut out which in fairness to Myler he has done to a large extent.
I think it was always going to be a difficult task to do much in this current recruitment cycle due in the most part to being behind the eight ball when the recruitment was started.
We wouldn’t have got many takers offering 1 year deals and certainly not of quality. It’s been a case of do we pay way over the odds or offer longer deals? I’ll admit some of the deals are on the face it longer than I’d have liked but that maybe the more cost effective way even if we end up moving them on after 1year.
I’m disappointed we haven’t brought some quality into the centres or pace especially given we’ve signed Cust when a player of Leuteles quality was & is still available.
That said I dont know the true facts/figures of the costs of 2024’s squad so it’s difficult to know how much recruitment had been hampered paying off a large number of inflated contracts.

We had little room for 2025 but players have been moved on or out so I would hope should the need to do so again we will.

Hopefully we’ll start to see and be able to understand what the thoughts, plans and processes are from the club especially when pre season has got underway.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not exactly thrilled with the recruitment for 2025 but we were in such a mess due to years of neglect in that dept steadying the ship was needed first & foremost.