lets be honest, does the "local players" thing even matter, what matters is winning, I don't care if we have nobody born in a Hull & East Riding maternity ward if we're competing for the playoffs. Sentiment has no place in professional sport.

In general it doesn't and is a nice to have. However, in RL, you need homegrown from a financial (and quota rule thingy?) point of view, so we do need to keep it up
(I do agree in your sentiment)

Agreed.

I agree, in part, but home grown doesn't mean a HU postcode, Aussies are not (or should not be) the answer.

If we had a team of 17 from Aberdeen but won the CC/League and WCC I would happily become an honorary Scot!

If you look at the more successful teams over recent years such as Leeds and Wigan then you'll find that their squads are filled with local talent. They don't necessarily have to be the first choice players but they are there in the squad. For me, we need to follow that route and balance the team out with local talent and other talent be they British or from further afield.

the main thing is they have a quality coach

I agree but not all of Leeds and Wigan's local talent is that local. I know the population is more dense in the West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester area, but Kevin Sinfield for example isn't a local lad in the sense that he's Leeds born and bred. That is always going to be the problem for us (and the dobbins), outside of Hull the next real rugby centres are Cas/Fev/Wakey which apart from the local clubs themselves chasing the talent are closer to Leeds, Huddersfield (& Bratfut if they get their act together) which means a move there is less of an upheaval.

Pure logic tells you that the Club Hull theory is seriously flawed. You would have to be incredibly , in fact miraculously , lucky to find in one or two generations 20 players that would be of top class SL standard. To find one for each position required would be akin to the odds of a lottery win. Certainly develop young players where ever they are from including Australia and find fantastic coaches to attract them and nurture them. To base a development program on the fate of the post code of birth is lunacy. I hope that AP understands that and has used the Hull thing to appeal to the parochial fanbase that we are.

Merge, chester as coach

we could play at Pearson Park then, about 200 watching maximum.

FC are f'd as long as(B)Radford is around.

imo radford is using the youngsters to cover his own failings, strong rumour jack logan will play centre tomorrow night v wigan!

no offence to the lad, but wigan isnt the kind of fixture to be throwing a young untested junior in, especially when we have a perfectly good centre out on loan!

fc lose with a host of (young) hull born players in the starting 17 then its seen as success in producing more home grown players even if they are not ready!

no consideration to the fans paying good well earned money who expect the strongest line up available and imo crooks should be included!

If radford sticks a kid in the centre against wigan when he could play crooks he needs to have some serious word with himself

He wouldn't know what to say

Maybe crooks is injured again??

Yeah, he looked in a right state when he scored that 80 metre try for donny last week