You'd have thought the club would've leaned from past scenarios ,Especially the half back situation .

Looks like our traditional winter sport is on again. Half back hunting.

Would seriously be offering Jackson Hastings to come over!

We really needed a boost after another horror season and reading that it's a massive letdown. No matter what way you look at it doesn't read well.

"Taking stock" after we missed out on one of if not the best HB in SL (which like you say was very unlikely to happen) doesn't sound very positive especially when there's an indication our next option could be a reserve with little NRL experience. I was expecting Asi or a player of similar experience and quality. Maybe I'm being to pessimistic.

Letting our marquee HB leave on the same day isn't particularly good timing whether it's a good decision or not. Like the departure of Connor no fee has been mentioned either.

I'm still prepared to give the the benefit of the doubt and wait and see if we do sign a couple of quality players but after reading that article I'm a bit deflated to say the least.

It’s obvious he was way too good for the championship in his prime, but the point I’m making is that him joining Hull is not the indicator of a huge change in financial situation that some seem think it is. It’s a salary cap sport, players move around. We gave Trueman a huge deal in 23 and offered Clifford big money for 24 way before AP planted the ‘investment’ fairytale in our heads to take the heat off. Asiata joined because we offered him 3 years, Im sure the deal was on our radar and still would have been done under AP, Clark and Smith. As you’ve pointed out yourself and confirmed by everyone in the sport (hence the rule change) these May 1st deals all got done months way in advance.

It’d be tough to get deep in discussions with representatives of a player on the basis that they’re currently plan B. If, more realistically, it was a small handful of names on paper, they might just not have panned out.
Tbh, as a plan B under current circumstances, I don’t think Cust or Drinkwater are that bad. I agree Cust [iand[/i Drinkwater would be odd.

Abdull-Cust-Smith-Charles (Champ loan with recall option, if possible, for the last) isn’t bad for a recovery position year.

Although it might not help with season ticket sales, a lot the improvement will come from fitness and boring wrestle-in-the-ruck training sessions without a ball in sight. Recruitment can’t be as bad as last year, but a lot of the turnover is to wash away the bad taste and reset the culture as much as it is about adding quality.

Quite frankly embarrassing to know for months that Trueman is leaving and not even having a plan B while pursuing an ambitious and unrealistic option in Lam. We will go into next year with Cust and Abdul in the halves and it will be miserable.

It has been well documented how little quality there is in the half back market, evening been mentioned by Grix, so why are we letting the only half we have with a bit of quality go when there is seemingly nobody else available?

Not when you excite the fans after making a massive offer for Lam

The ‘taking stock of options’ comments to the media just smacks to me of making an offer for Asi and yet again falling short. I’d expect someone like Leeds, Cas, Wire or Catalans to announce the signing very soon.

A good reserve grader isn’t the end of the world, it’s a big risk though in context of the clubs future IMO. They have to get it right.

It depends on who you define as a good reserve grader. Although different positions we signed and was strongly linked with the two PNG players neither of whom played made a single NRL match. Is that really the level we are looking at for such a key position.

We made Lam a massive offer. That kind of money should be enough to lure a player of similar quality from the NRL even if we are not the most attractive proposition at the moment.

Fair point, but do you not make the move for fear of it not panning out? That was a pretty unusual situation… plan b was always unlikely to be as good, which is why it was such an appealing move. If Hull bide their time, something vaguely similar might arise but it’s not something they can make happen.

I don’t recall Hull (or even Dan Tomlinson as a proxy) going massive on it to unduly raise expectations. Most posters on here leavened their excitement with plenty of probably-won’t-happen realism.

It's seems like history is repeating itself MR, particularly concerning a half back. If we bide our time it could be a case of what's left on the shelf ie Josh Reynolds and Fu Brown both signed in desperation. The Tony Smith approach.

We should be more ambitious with the supposed financial muscle we have at our disposal. It's looks like we put all our eggs in one basket with Lam and not having an alternative is not a good look especially knowing that Trueman was on his way weeks ago.

I don't agree, the fact that we were heavily in for Lam raises expectations.

The only people I've seen linking Drinkwater to Hull are supporters. I've not seen any RL journos suggesting that move.

Personally, I expect the worst these days when it comes to our recruitment. As a result I was hugely surprised by Asiata and Lam turned out exactly as expected.
My whole attitude to FC currently can be described with a shrug.
I'll most likely renew again next year but I have zero expectations, its just not worth it.

Apathy set in years ago for me but I'll be renewing despite having at times no desire to go because if I don't and many others don't the club could sink in to oblivion.