We all hate Leeds, we all hate Leeds

Need to win one of our last four or smith has taken us backwards this season

Id agree but I also think our squad was weaker for this season that the last 2, also losing Hoy has been a big blow.

Id start to play the kids now, good chance to see whos ready for 2024 or not. No point playing players like Lovodua and Dwyer who are going and not playing well.

I think most of us would agree we are now in (very) long-shot territory in regard to top-six hopes!

Whether or not we make the six, I think the key over these last four games is, what is our attitude and commitment like?

TS should be using these four games to drill into the squad that our aim should always be to win the game which is happening in front of us, irrespective of opponent or surrounding circumstance.

The very best always seek to win, at all times, which tends naturally to lead to a winning mentality which in turn produces a successful side. The aim should be to have that mentality as an ingrained attitude running through the club as a whole and not on some ad-hoc basis.
Over the past 5/6 years we have been guilty of the complete opposite to this attitude. We've reached a point where the play-offs seem out of reach and the towel has been thrown in, leading to some horrendous 8/9 games in the closing weeks of the season, as we've sat and suffered in abject horror.

Tony Smith has twice changed the mentality of under-achieving clubs; at Leeds, twenty years ago, and (to a slightly lesser extent) at Warrington. Can he repeat it for a third time with us?
Only time will tell on that, but this next month seems as good a place as any to alter that mind-set which is the underlying source of why we, as a club, never quite seem to be where we all think we should be. All journeys have to start somewhere!

I think the effort is there just some players arent top6 quality, and we have been a prop short all season so a lot of weeks the pack isnt on top and that makes it a lot harder.

Yes, I would agree. Certainly, on Saturday our lack of 'grunt' up front meant it was relatively easy for Wire to keep their defensive shape intact, which in turn means we are always looking for Clifford (or someone else) to pull out a miracle play to create a gap. Losing Truman in the first half hardly helped matters either.

Again, I would agree that since Good Friday the effort has been excellent, even in the games we have lost. The lack of genuine quality in the side is, I'm afraid, something we can't address over the next four weeks, we have to live with it for the time being.

As long as that effort level is maintained, then we should hopefully come away with at least a couple more wins. What none of us want to see is a repeat of recent years where our last few opponents have had carte-blanch to do whatever they damn well felt like doing (Wakefield 2021 or rovers 2022 for instance). That's the change in attitude I was hinting at in my first post, being committed even when it looks, on the surface at least, like there is little tangible to play for.

Truman's cruel luck has changed the landscape, for me, as far as recruitment goes. We have to get two decent halfbacks or we'll end up without any play makers to exploit what looks like being a fearsome pack for next year. It may well be that we look to the lower leagues, as I doubt any of the Aussie halves that haven't been snapped up, will want to make the journey to SL; or massively improve us; we may have to lower expectations in that respect, unless we already have a signing in the bag, unannounced. Hoy at 6 may be good on paper but his injury record is awful, he must be cursing this year and let's hope we can get him fit for the full next season.

Change the attitude ?
We need to clear out literally as many players as we can !

Mint and Tag , Carlos And Lane - there’s 4 for you and Ben McNamara

We have to cleanse the mental garbage in the squad

And I thought the age of comedy was dead!!

Gotta love happy clappers who add to the overall malaise of mediocrity

I saw the Saints game in the Cup and was astonished at the 2nd half performance

What I admired was how much the fans got behind the team
I haven’t seen that for such a long time but the players clearly pick and choose when they want to perform to the level they can win and it’s a winning business in sport not gallant losses

These happy clappers go everywhere, buy loads of merchandise and spend thousands each year, there keep the club going.

You go to one gane in 5 years and think you have the right to critise these fans.

You need a reality check.

This idea that fans not rioting or walking away because we don't win every week somehow contributes to a team not winning is utter nonsense.

I've resisted raising to the bait of this thread but Oh come on guys!! of course the season is over. because if by some miracle we get into the 6 (and its getting to Miracle status now) does anyone really think this team will get past the first round away from home in a high pressure play off game? The thing though all is not lost because for some of us its job done.

When you look at the state we were in at the end of last season and the fact that we had signed up all but one of the last crop of incoming players when Tony Smith, arrived should have meant that our only expectation for this season, so critical as it has now become, was to survive relegation, be in the mix for 2024 and hope that Smith could start a process of rebuilding the club up to the state we were in in say 2017. The 'run his course and become stale' demise of Radford, Andy Lasts treading water rein and the abject inability to get players up for games/ simple baffling recruitment of Hodgson, has seen the club sink to as low a point as we have seen in all our years in Super league.

All I wanted was to survive and at last we had a coach that could, given time, possibly take us the other way. After 7 defeats on the trot I wondered if it was just another false dawn with a coach who had maybe gone a step too far even for him as he took on a shambles of a squad. However since then we have seen him get players who were amazingly good at not giving a toss, up for games, see ones that many on here thought were on the scrap heap and past it get a new lease of life and made some 'under weight' forwards perform about our and even perhaps their, expectations. We have seen some good scraping performances and a lot of spirit and heart, on the way to getting the points we needed to survive. That had to be our main aim and simply imperative, for, as the unheard of glut of signings going late in the season to Cas and Wakey has proved, it essential this year that we are in the 11 that survive.

I'm not at all comfortable with our signings coming in but having seen what he has done so far, I'm willing to wait and see a) what the finished squad is and b) how they perform next season. But from what we know so far it's hardly inspiring is it? One things for certain Smith's a great man manager totally fair to everyone and becoming a bit of a 'Bringer of Hope' for the fans, but he tough as well and if you cause disruption as Griffin undoubtably did then you're out on your ear.

For me yes the season is over but I'm really enjoying the remainder of it and hope that we give some of our young hopefuls a run out to see how they go on in the big boys league because on that score at this point we have nothing at all to lose. I'm just enjoying the ride now!

Agree with Wilf, everybody wants to see us in the play offs but realistically after those seven games most wouldn't of thought we would still be in with a mathematic chance of making the top 6 at this stage. That is testament to Tony's ability to motivate with a squad he has had zero say on. If we miss out of the play offs but continue to put the effort in right till the final minute of Saints away, will it be considered a good season? Not really, but to me it will be a significant improvement on past seasons.

After the Derby embarrassment last year I had absolutely zero interest in the next season, this time round I can't wait for 2024. Let Tony put his spin on the side and see where it takes us, his record suggests it will be higher up the table.

Nail on the head.

Like you after the Derby at end of last season and walking home from the stadium I had pretty much come to the decision that after 44yrs watching Hull FC it would be the last season for me if Hodgson was still the Head Coach.
I even emailed the club stating I wouldn't be renewing due to the non existent performances and over standard of the product with BH at the helm.
To be fair I did get a reply off James Clarke pretty swiftly thanking me for my critical but constructive email as opposed to just sending an abusive one . In his reply he accepted pretty much all I had put and said that things would be changing.

I think TS has done well in turning around the squad this year considering the restraints in terms of personnel etc. Whilst the league position isn't much better the level of performance and consistency is a million miles away from last season and the early part of this.
There's no denying there is still a lot of work to be done and improvements to be made but I have to admit that this is the first time in 4 or 5 years I've enjoying going to games again.