I fully agree on the first point. Radford's the youngest coach in SL so clearly has much to learn. I think our pack is OK and the backs, if Sa comes and plays centre, OK too. But he's got too little quality available in the halves. We don't need a superstar. Just someone that can manage a game, spot opportunities, take control. 7 years on, we're no closer to it.

Catalans W (last season W)
Saints L (D)
Warrington L (W)
Bradford W (W)
Cas L (L)
Widnes L (W)
Salford W (W)
Hudds W (L)
Rovers L (W)

A chance to pull it back somewhat with Wakefield and Wigan to come at home over the next few weeks, both of which beat us at the KC last year.

I'm not really buying the halves thing, that's not were the game was lost last night. Our kicking game was no worse than Rovers, and we carved out some good chances considering our pack got beaten up. I actually thought the majority of problems stemmed from Houghton. His passing from dummy half reminded me of an under 8s game where the DH picks the ball up then everyone stands still for a few seconds whilst he decides who to pass to. This coupled with the skinny 10 the ref was keeping made it very hard for our forwards to get us going, and the knock on effect of that is the halves are having to play off the back foot.

I don't like to admit it, but Josh Hodgson is a far superior hooker to Danny Houghton.

We only seem to compete when we are reacting to a defeat. That cycle continued last night. No doubt there'll be yet another reaction on Monday.
Sometimes we look as though we are making real progress, other times we look miles away.
Just wonder how long supporters will stick with it?. We've had this for years now and patience is wearing very thin.

Completely agree about houghton and I've been banging on about it for years. Another major faux pas from radford leaving heremaia out. Also agree about the skinny 10 which helped their less dynamic pack. Can't agree about the halfs though. We looked poor in their 20 and our last tackle plays are poor. A decent half would address both of those issues

Well put it this way, if Jonathan Thurston was playing we would have won. But I actually don't see the halves as our most pressing problem at the minute.

I do. A good quality half would probably see us with 8 more league points and a CC game to look forward to at this point in the season

"if thurston was playing wed have won", do nqc win every nrl game ? did a young thurston have a blinder every week?
young halves learning the game need time, as do our other young players. leeds sacrificed a few seasons in the early 2000s to get sinfield, burrows, maguire etc blooded for superleague rather then trying big money quick fixes which rarely work(especially in the long run)

If you think you've got a Thurston, a Sinfield or even a Matty Smith in Jacob Miller you are either sadly mistaken or deluded, I'm not sure which. He is seriously not the answer.

This is your problem. That and last night not picking Heremia and another impact forward.
Games are controlled by your 1, 6, 7, and 9. Shaul is a runner not a play maker putting more pressure on your halves. Rankin looks a threat but another runner rather than game controller. Miller. Well last night he was looking out for Burns rather than the game. Very poor. Houghton I rate but again no kicking game to help your halves.
You need two playmakers at least in a team. Your struggling for one and have been since Brough and Cooke left.
Your forwards are up to standard. They need help.

didn't say miller was a thurston etc just said our young players need time. do you think any of those established stars never had bad games, especially in their early days as pros. incidentally miller n rankin did ok vs hudd, granted they're not world beaters but few their age are.
if i recall correctly many hkr fans weren't convinced about burns last season(especially his temperament) yet you all seem happy enough with him now . same with welham, whose early career defence was shocking but over time has improved

I beginning to think Radford is playing this as if he is East Hulls coach - whoever turns up for every training session during the week gets the gig. Now come-one this is the big boys league best 17 and you should know that by now. And by the way get the bloody goalkicking sorted because Richard W is not the answer - body language mate I can see it so I am sure you can also.

I agree about Houghton , fantastic defender but far too often picks the wrong option. He must average one forward pass a game.

Makes the Azza omission more baffling when he would have offered different options attacking wise to Horne. I do get what the OP is saying though, I think we do look better then last season and even if we have had 7 years to correct certain aspects of our squad Radford has only had 6 months.

Jury still out for me, were not top 4 but were far from Agars tenure too.

You make some good points, then you go spoil it all by suggesting Welham's defence has improved.

Eddie Marks

The flaw with your thread is that the Hull FC halfs are both young Australians who will learn a lot playing here but will then go back to Australia so Hull Fc will get no benefit at all from their additional experience.
In any case I don't see Hull Fc keeping Miller after this season.They will try and offload him for certain.