Optimism doesnt suddenly catapult the team into a top 6 or 8 position.
The squad has been strengthened and experience added but is still poor quality,coupled with ageing players and a distinct lack of pace.
I think with Cartwrights coaching adding fitness and discipline we will keep out of the bottom two but all teams in S/L have been strengthened and i dont see a really weak team there at all.
Even Wakefield will surprise a few

The key thing is if we are sorting the basics out, the fitness, the discipline, the defence and then if we are losing games by a try or two because our slow centres couldn't finish the break off, then I'd say fair enough sign some top centres for 2026 and jobs a good un.

It's getting away from the 50 point thumpings that is important for the fans morale, and also not downing tools after the end of July. The Cup is more of a chance for sucess even a day out at a Semi final would feel like a dream after these last few years.

Put this on a post a few months back but I'm not bothered about our league position this year. Obviously I would like it to be higher than 11th/joint bottom but it's more about getting our house in order for me. Getting the fitness and conditioning sorted, improving the injury situation, getting the right attitude/culture/mentality into the club so we are at least competing in games every week even if we end up losing more than we win.

A change of ownership doesn't really alter my thoughts on that. It gives me optimism (more than I have had in a long time) that we have a bright future ahead of us but we still have to fix all the things I mentioned above and a whole lot more. I'm loving the positivity coming out of the club at the moment and it sounds like we have already addressed things and started to make the improvements needed but I'm also accepting that it's not necessarily going to equate to points on the table next season. I'm fine with that. Let's get the foundations sorted in 2025 and go from there.

If the mooted P&R comes in we absolutely need to finish as high up the table as possible. Finish 12th as a B grade club and we'll probably be relegated.

For me, if everything goes right for us, including injuries not being too bad and discipline and defence being sorted then we will be in the mix for 9th, with 8th being a possibility but probably unlikely

in the current scheme finish 11th as a grade B club with whats happening at clubs below us could see us relegated anyway.

True, when batley, sheffield and dewsbury get their grade a licences we're screwed

In regards to where we finish, following our dismal league finishes over the last few years, it's imperative that we finish as high as we possibly can and 8th should be a realistic target. Whilst we have and are still undergoing huge changes that are & will improve us, it will not happen overnight.

What I like so far that has come from the changes and I thought it was very much in evidence at the forum was the openness and honesty coming from RM, JC and AT which is refreshing change to the usual soundbites and false promises.

We know next year isn't going to see us challenging for LLS or GF but should see us challenging week in week out for 80mins. A lot has been made of this recruitment cycle but we can't hide behind the fact we were already behind the 8 ball when we started making changes. In an ideal world we'd have had replacements lined up etc before moved players on but i'd rather the club make the tough decisions needed and take the action rather than continue to wait. I think the next recruitment cycle will be much better and will already be much more proactive. From AT comments we are also going to be more proactive in terms of the Grading with his statement and doing what is need to attain an A grade at the first chance.

Money won't transform us in to an overnight success, success will only come from working hard, commitment, accountability and Leadership. In people like AT at the very top and JC we have two very capable people who have a wealth of experience and ability to be able to deliver the success. For all our neighbours are calling JC our 3rd choice coach for me I think it has been very much a case of one of those right time, right place situations that usually tend to work out as the more successful appointments. Listening to JC and having a chat with him in my local, for me he seems another in the mould like Peter Sharp so hopefully JC will have a similar impact of the players he has at his disposal.

I think other than the likes of Wigan, Warrington, Catalans, KR and probably St Helens (though not totally convinced with Wellens as HC) the rest will be fighting it out. Still not sure on how Leeds will go as yet, Salford may well see some struggle without Blease, Leigh I think will be there or there abouts, Cas, Wakey difficult to say and do think Huddersfield will have another poor season. So there is plenty of scope for us to be in the higher end of the mid table.

The main positive is there's at least a clear strategy at Hull to move forward now, along with the resources to carry it out. It will take time and there will be no prospect of competing for the top prize over the next couple of years - the main purposes of 2025 and 2026 are essentially to develop the young players to a point where they can play significant roles in the team going forward and to put the building blocks of performance in place for the future (i.e. team culture, ethos, strength and conditioning etc). Its a shame that it ever got to this point as it was a preventable situation but thankfully the Hull fanbase have been extremely loyal and seem prepared to stick by the club during the recovery process.

Many of the signings for those two years are essentially stop gaps and whilst they hopefully have enough gas in the tank to get by the next two years at a good level - the likes of Holmes, Hardaker, Sezer, Rapana and Briscoe likely won't be there in 2027 and I'm certain that is the year that has been earmarked by the new leadership as the target for Hull competing for the Grand Final again.

Got to remember here that Huddersfield and Salford can't easily improve their score either. Both have good grounds, both have issues with crowds and income, but different scenarios with on the field performance. And as performance is a 3 year average even a dramatic change such as finishing bottom one year and top then next doesn't suddenly make for a great performance score.

Bradford are spending big but are 2.6 points behind us. Even if they win the 1895 cup and Grand Final it's still a big gap to make up. London will fall back now the owner is walking away. Aside from winning the trophies it's not clear what else Toulouse could do to massively improve their score either.

Overall I'm not too concerned and highly likely the game will tweak the process anyway I've watched RL long enough to know those in charge are a set of tinker men.

I just thought a grade b was a grade b, not different levels of grading depending on score. My understanding of those new proposals was that any grade b club who finish bottom are at risk

Don't disagree with you at all and its a very fair and valid post.

I think the signings you mentioned have indeed been touched on by both RM & JC recently in that they were signed with their experience and age very much in mind. The experience side was needed to help the development of the young players coming through is the aspects you mentioned such as culture/attitude/work ethic, professionalism etc. The ages of the players that were brought in was so there would be little to no potential of blocking of the youth as JC or RM spoke about that.

So far it's all been relatively positive changes and all that seem genuinely thought out and part of a structured plan which has been needed for far too long. With that and the financial resources now available the ingredients are there to get the club back up to where it should really be.

As you say it will take time and should never have been allowed to get to the point we were at but now we can have real hope that we are moving back in the right direction and have genuine leadership across all levels within the club on and off the field.

rlhttps://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/promotion-relegation-rugby-league-meeting-9707206rl

This is the article discussing the proposal from the HDM. Basically, the idea is that whoever wins the Championship gets promoted as long as they are a Grade B club. Doesn't matter where they actually rank points wise against their peers so they can be the lowest ranked Grade B club in the Championship but if they win it, they're promoted. In terms of relegation, they would replace the lowest ranked Grade B team in Super League. Not the lowest placed Grade B team. So as things stand, Salford are the lowest ranked Grade B club in Super League and would be the ones under threat regardless of league position. If all clubs in Super League are Grade A clubs, the league would be expanded to accommodate the Championship winner.

Personally I think that they either need to stick to the IMG grading system (certain aspects of the criteria's need tweaking of course) or go back to straight up promotion and relegation. This just sounds far too convoluted trying to accommodate both ideas and I can see there been some real controversy in the future on this.

What I've read is:

'The clubs will be re-assessed every year. Teams will stay in the top flight if they keep their Grade A status, with the best of the Grade B clubs them making up the rest of the competition.'

So for the moment we are the best rated GradeB club, and 10th place overall so 3 GradeB clubs would need to get a better score to relegate us. Obviously it's get complicated if we finish poorly again and a championship clubs bags bonus points for Cup and League wins but ultimately I don't see 3 clubs overturning us in the scores in 1 year,

As you say whoever wins the Championship/Play Off Final gets promoted as long as they are a Grade B club so conversely any club in SL that finishes bottom should be relegated grade B or A as I can't see the point of relegating a club on grade score rather than finishing bottom. It just wouldn't make sense when clubs in SL are A or B anyway and you have to be a B or higher to gain promotion like Wakefield have.

So its should be as simple as any club that wins promotion goes up (as long as they hold a B grade as minimum) and any SL club that finishes bottom is relegated (whether A or B). But in true RL fashion in the UK we have to make it far more complicated than it should or needs to be.