Thirkill leaves his role as Leeds Rhinos President next week so I wouldn't expect any news before then.

Been trying to process my thoughts on all this since news started breaking that both Wakey and Cas would be getting A's on Tuesday night. With further news breaking regarding where clubs (not just us) lost points, I thought I would wait to try and compose myself a bit.

I still think that IMG need time. This is still very much the first phase of a long term plan for the sport. And the sport desperately needed someone coming in with a long term plan. The sport has been stagnating for some time and the constant chopping and changing every few years (licencing for a few years, back to promotion and relegation for a few years, Super 8's...) hasn't helped. IMG have had great success with other sports so I would say that we need to give them time rather than tearing everything up and starting again once more.

That all being said, it doesn't mean that they aren't open for criticism because this has certainly been a rough start and it's highlighted plenty of flaws. On the FC side of things, I do believe that knowing we had a provisional grade A last year gave the club complacency and certainly contributed to what we saw last season. Whilst this may prove to be a good thing for the club in the long term, it was a real slap in the face in the short term. Clubs can't be allowed to be in that position where they can contemplate throwing a season. Performance has to be the bulk of the grading going forward. As others have pointed out, you get the performance right and a lot of the other stuff sorts itself.

So I wasn't surprised that we dropped to Grade B. Hoped we wouldn't but expected it and think it was fully deserved. But then you see that we lost points for our LED screens. Screens that are classed as UEFA standard but not good enough for IMG? That's just ridiculous. Then we're losing out because they aren't classing certain "Hull" areas when we're already in that unique position of having to share our area with another club. That's a flaw that counts against both ourselves and KR. Again, ridiculous.

I'm delighted that both Cas and Wakey got Grade A's but how a team that has just spent a season in the Championship can suddenly be a Grade A club is beyond me. And another team that has been struggling in Super League for a number of years has ranked a lot higher than Salford (a competitive team for many years) is just mind boggling. This again comes back to me saying that there needs to be more emphasis on performance than anything else and that includes taking into account what league you are in better than it appears to have been done so far.

Then you hear that Oldham got penalised for moving from a smaller stadium to a better and improved stadium that increased their attendances significantly. How was that remotely fair? And the talk that Doncaster lost a point because a gantry was 40cm too short or something like that for IMG's liking? Give me a break!

So, yeah, plenty of flaws both in how the criteria is applied and the ways teams can potentially manipulate and exploit it. But I don't think it's an all hope is lost situation just yet. As long as there's acknowledgements that changes are required to the criteria as well as by clubs themselves.

Oh yes, and add greater emphasis to youth development. That is key to the future of the sport and something all clubs should be striving to improve on.

Said it before in a different thread, IMG is just the latest reorganisation of the deck chairs on the Titanic by the clueless buffoons who have driven RL (in the UK) into the ground with their nonsensical "leadership" for decades now.

The game is on life support, with only the ever-dwindling number of diehards somehow keeping the zombie shuffling along.

Another article in the HDM with AP talking about green shoots, how they’ve added leadership, competitive squad and talking up the coach etc. Not complaining as he’s got to do it at season ticket time but just doesn’t strike me as a man who’s sold up.

Yes I also getting that sinking feeling he's still captain of the ship.

Club also advertising this dinner on social media, when the fastest way to shift these £60 tickets would be to tell us there's a special guest from Leeds attending. I'd rather sit at home and chew £60 of pound coins that listen to more of Pearson's false promises.

"The back three (Logan Moy, Lewis Martin, and Harvey Barron) all did well; they've all progressed, and we've got some good young players and a lot of experienced pros now in there. There are all associated to Richie and John, [uwhich is going to put a bit of pressure on them[/u. John has virtually, from the Jordan Abdull signing onwards, has had his fingerprints and his signature over all of the signings, and certainly the early ones, Richie knows personally from the dressing room and on the pitch. We know what we're getting, and there's no excuses really."

Pressure on who, Myler & Cartwright? Reads a bit weird that.

It's not written well but I've interpreted it as pressure on anyone who isn't a Myler/Cartwright signing so players who've been there a while

I am sure we are all still hearing rumours. I've heard five this week ranging from him staying and there is no investment all the way to him selling up and leaving the club altogether. Have to agree that reading his comments this week in particular that it sounds like he's staying. But I'm still not ruling anything out. Perhaps he's sold up the majority of his stake and is remaining as CEO (that's another rumour I heard) which would require him still being a spokesperson for the club?

Yes, that is a bit weird. It sounds to me like he's saying the pressure is on Myler and Cartwright by basically saying they are the ones that have made the signing decisions. It's that last bit that makes me think this: We know what we're getting, and there's no excuses really.

But there shouldn't be pressure on anyone for me given the position we are in. Myler's had a lot of mess to clear up, Cartwright can't be expected to perform miracles, the young players are just that (young), new players need time to adapt and adjust, and we've seen how the existing players that remain have responded to pressure in the past.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ll-9663222 That's a bit article just to tell us there's no prop on the way for the foreseeable future!

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ll-9663222 That's a bit article just to tell us there's no prop on the way for the foreseeable future!

My interpretation was the opposite and that the pressure is on any players who Myler & Cartwright have signed together.
These are players that Cartwright believes he can truly trust, therefore the pressure is on them to prove that he can and show the traits he believes they have.

It shows how weirdly worded the sentence was when 3 of us have all posted diffrerent answers on who the pressure is deemed to be on.

Of course there is pressure. If it's another sheetshow of a season due to poor recruitment then those responsible should be held to account

I can tolerate him staying as CEO if there is investment, while I have growing doubts about his ability, I don't doubt he does try and act in the clubs interest. It's just a lot of bad decisions have been made.

Also if the club contunues to struggles then Thirkhill would simply get a new CEO in anyway.

The key thing is money, it makes the world go round and even with a well coached team I'm not convinced you can win things without marquees now. For example take French, Field and Thompson out of Wigan you've probably got a 3rd/4th placed team not a champion one.

I’m pretty convinced he’s keeping his majority stake and will still be the owner of the club. The ‘investment’ could be anything, I wouldn’t rule out something really underwhelming like some kind of sponsorship or partnership but hopefully it’s someone buying a decent enough chunk of shares to at least cut the penny pinching short term. It’s obvious that the bad decisions are being made out of desperation.

If Cartwright has had a say in all of the clubs recruitment i just hope he is a better coach than he is at recruitment.
There is no real quality in there apart from Asiata,certainly no pace and an ageing most likely injury prone squad just lacks excitement.
When Pearson says "I think the squad is capable of winning some games next year and at least competing in all games says it all for me as its hardly inspiring

Might not be inspiring but it is realistic. Which is a lot better than recent years when he's claimed we'll be challenging for the playoffs only for us to sink further down the table.

Yes, that's how I read it too.
The pressure is on the new recruits to repay the faith the coach and DOR have shown in them by bringing them into the club. I guess the conversation went along the lines of 'we believe you can do a good job for us, come and join us here in rebuilding the club'

People usually respond well if they feel someone has faith in them, let's hope that's the case here, fingers crossed.

Like you say RR, in recent years he's promised a lot but delivered very little.
Maybe he's decided to try the opposite, promise little, damp down expectations (not that any of us have any wild expectations for 2025!!) and then hopefully surprise everyone! The old reverse psychology trick!!



The only way is up, surely!!!

We are where we are, unfortunately, and there is no getting away from that fact.
I agree with you that the squad is hardly setting anyone's pulses racing and dreaming of big days out at finals, but we have an awful lot of damage to repair and we have to start somewhere. I think this squad has been put together for the sole purpose of stopping the rot and stopping us going backwards even further. Then we can hopefully address the issue of moving forward again. We are not going to go from 3 wins in 27 to being contenders in one fell swoop, it just doesn't happen that way I'm afraid.

It's probably been very hard to attract anyone half-decent to a club who have been going backwards for seven years now! If I was a RL player of decent quality I'd be looking somewhere else right now for gainful employment, and that's speaking as a die-hard fan of long-standing, but even I would find the club less than tempting at this point in time let alone a decent rugby player in the prime of his years!

I agree that the squad is underwhelming and I think the next twelve months are going to be another hard slog with only the odd afternoon to cheer us up a touch (although hopefully a few more afternoons than this year!) but I'm afraid we are going to have to grit our teeth and bear it. All the wishful thinking in the world isn't going to alter the reality of where we have dug ourselves into.

It is when you have previously finished bottom

We haven't finished bottom for over sixty years.

Don't let facts get in the way of his inane rants. Gunna be a long off season

Good to know we might win a few games next season

does finishing second bottom with the same points as the bottom club London make you feel better

Thanks for correcting yourself.