https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... fc-9090618 Sounds like Sao, Carlos and Smith will be fit. Less sure on Fash and Scott

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... fc-9090618 Sounds like Sao, Carlos and Smith will be fit. Less sure on Fash and Scott

Wishing ang hoping just like you but in reality just cant see where our points will come from unless HKR make some glaring errors near their line or throw a couple of interception passes.
It would take a near error free display from us and near perfect discipline so that we dont run out of gas having to defend more than we should to make a full 80 minute game of it

Fairly obvious I know, but a win next Thursday would be a real tonic for the troops!

It's always nice to get a win first game, and doubly so when it's a derby, but more importantly from our perspective a win would put some energy into the fanbase which, as we all know, isn't feeling exactly optimistic about the months to come.
If we lose this game, then take a bit of a pasting at Wire the following week (although it's anyone's guess how Wire will go under Burgess) we run the danger of everyone feeling the season's almost gone by the time we've arrived at week 3!

Smith has a number of crucial decisions to make, that's for sure. Does he put all the big guns in the pack to start with and knock rovers out of kilter from the off? but that runs the risk of our level dropping alarmingly once we start interchanging.
In the halves, I suspect he'll go with Hoy/Brown and Walker at FB, not convinced it's ideal but likely to be what he settles on.

It's always difficult to predict opening games, there's no real form guide to go by, but think we need the win more than them for the reasons stated above. A defeat for rovers isn't going to derail their campaign, but for us it will probably increase the downbeat air surrounding us, so I'm hoping that might give us an extra push, especially if it's a close game.

I've been going to derbies since the 70s and I've watched too many where beforehand it has seemed so obviously slanted towards one of the sides only for it to go completely the other way on the day, so who knows really? Let the fun commence, eh!!

My team, which I imagine will be different to the one Smith picks.

Walker
MacIntosh
Tuimavave
Sutcliffe
Martin
Hoy
F Brown
Ese'ese
Houghton
Fash
Ashworth
Okunbor
Sao

J Brown
Pele
Scott
Smith

Well balanced, big, and gives us options to mix things up if things aren't working or we need a spark. 1-17 on paper Rovers look better, but I think we can beat them down the middle, and in early season games that is generally where its won and lost.

I too worry about how we are going to score, and last Sunday didn't do anything to allay those fears. Apart from Brown scooting around a bit, there didn't seem to be much in the way of constructive play throughout the whole 80 minutes.

I know it was a pre-season testimonial and it was raining for a fair portion of the afternoon, but watching them with ball in hand felt like a worrying foretaste of what may be to come.
Let's just hope something clicks somewhere over the coming few days.

Can't rely argue with most of that but I'm hoping we have a cunning Baldrick plan up our sleeves .

Nobody wants to lose a derby and everyone wants to start with a bang, but with a number of signings in both and pretty disjointed pre seasons really i don’t see a classic.

Defeat will be insufferable for a few days but nothing won or lost game 1. Hell we turned Wigan over last year in a dominant display and they went and won it with mad form at the end of the year (we both obviously aren’t Wigan, but the point stands)

Hoping for some decent weather and the pitch holds up as I think a forward battle suits you better. If we can release our backs then I think we could have too much

Enjoy the game and the day, good to have some rugby back. If we can top 20k rugby league in the city firmly alive and well!

Don't know about enjoying the game unless we're 20 points clear with 2 mins to go.

We've won nine out of our last ten opening round games and in four of those seasons we won the second round too. It generally hasn't meant much in terms if how the season panned out, in fact in 2019 we lost the first two league games but finished sixth.

Does that mean that the away game at Craven Park in 2019 is the anomaly then?

Yes, the last play try from Keinhorst. I think we had the ball in their 25 with a minute left but blew it.

I love how people say stuff like second half when rovers fitness is better we’ll fall away.

Have you been to both clubs and done their VO2 max. Against Wigan we competed the first half and then fell away when lane, Jack Charles & Davy litten came in. Pretty much every try realistically came from an individual error from them.

With a full strength side we won’t see any of them and smith will be playing to win a rather than for fitness. He said he played Ashworth, ese’ese & Pele for 60 minutes each with minimal rest to force them to play under fatigue. He’s not going to be doing that in the derby l.

Stop reading into friendlies so much and be positive. It must be draining searching for negatives all the time

Good points, generally agree with what you say here, but I still think we need the win more than you.

Not only are we the home side, but we badly need a shot of optimism into our fanbase. The general mood with us is fairly downbeat right now, no-one is expecting much from this team in the coming year. A cursory glance around this forum gives an idea of the mood before the season has even started!

Overall I suspect the mood in your camp is a touch more upbeat? Defeat on Thursday, whilst galling as all derby defeats are, probably won't have too much of an impact on your prospects. But defeat for us will intensify the gloom surrounding the place, adding to the run of six defeats which closed our season last year with such a whimper!

Agree with your analysis about whether the game becomes a forward battle or whether the backs are given space to move. Think a scrappy, bitty game will most likely give us a higher chance of coming out on top. If it turns into a wide expansive affair, we may find ourselves in a bit of bother!

Let's hope it's a decent game to kick off 2024, and hopefully everyone (and I mean everyone) behaves themselves and a few idiots (from whichever side) don't drag down the name of the fair City.

Hoy
Mac
Carlos
Sutty
Litten
Smith
Brown
Herman
Mint
Pele
Oki
Ligi
Fash

Ashworth
Cator
Brown
Scott