Any news on Noggers? If Westerman is back some key decisions for Radford. Rovers will ship wide, so big defensive asks on the flanks, which is worrying. Campese finding Mantellato with high kicks will be a big theme, and with Kelly, Lunt and Salter back, they're a tough proposition. Presumably no news on Sio's broken jaw/cheekbone means it isn't actually broken, but will be a "boost" story for tomorrow's HDM.

Down to only 5 out then? most of whom have probably retired or left rovers anyway

No, it's just Barista's usual spin before every derby game. The clever betting is she will mention Rovers injuries at least a dozen times before the weekend and play down hull's chances at every opportunity



Big, Brutal, Experienced and Confident....and that's just Radford.

History tells you it Doesn't matter who's out injured , who's in form or who should win on paper ... The team that makes the least errors and plays the smartest rugby will win this , hopefully this will be us !!! Coyh

Thick, trolling and in the wrong place.....and that's just Structured.

Run at Kelly directly wherever he is on the pitch, for 2 tackles out of every set for the first 30 minutes. Campese is a good defender but this will ruin Kelly. Send the bomb up to Dixon every opportunity.

Looking just at Rovers pre-Derby form over the last few seasons, which only tells half the story of course, we have better form in the run-up to derbies we win than those we lose.

Tbh, it's surprisingly rare for us to go into the game on the back of either two wins [ior[/i two losses, but even so...

Excluding round 1 in 2011, Rovers are 17w-1d-18L in SL in the three games prior derbies we won, since 2008. Before derbies lost it is 9-2-16. I doubt it is statistically significant, but it'd be interesting (to me

) to see if something similar is reflected in Hull's pre-Derby form.

Been reading moneyball, innit?

Of course, it isn't strongly predictive of what will happen over 80 minutes, but I think dismissing form before these games could be one of those received wisdom things that doesn't necessarily stand up to scrutiny.

Correct. Mind you with 30+ leaving before the end of their contracts in recent years, it's hard to keep up. I forgot that Burke is back too. Crikey.

I don't know whether its been asked before, but have Rovers ever had anyone long enough to earn a testimonial.

Netherton. He was sacked off and came back IIRC but got one anyway.

Paul Rose got a testimonial

Gareth ellis got a testimonial for 2 years service with you didn't he?