It's catching on.

great post.

When Maguire & Brown took over Wigan & Huddersfield respectively, this was the first issue they addressed
- basic core skills.

Wane & Anderson are showing continuity in their methods/structures left from their predecessors

This is our failing - IMO.

Good post. Agree with a lot of what you just said there. However, whilst I agree that Leeds and Wigan are doing just fine at present, I would point out that both clubs have had Aussie coaches in the not too distant past. Just wonder if that has had any bearing on how well Wane and McDermott are currently doing? Are they reaping the benefits of their predecessors work? Would they be doing as well if they were at Hull?

Ultimately we need to get the right structure in place if we are going to achieve producing youngsters. I believe we have the facilities in place from top to bottom but I am unsure about whether we have the quality or quantity of coaching staff necessary to achieve this aim. According to the website we have seven first team members of our coaching staff (one of which is a video analyst). Is that enough and are they the right personnel? Same question for the academy sides. I can't see anyone listed there on the official website so I have no idea who is involved in those areas.

Which is why if we're putting our future in the hands of young players coming through we need to spend money on the very best proven junior coaches that money can buy. Instead we've used these roles as a way of keeping good "clubmen" employed after they've finished. Last has never been tested elsewhere or gained any experience and Horne may well now get a similar role but on what basis? He'll naturally teach them what he's been taught. It's all very well creating state of the art training centres , academies etc but we'll just continue to get the same result unless we put top proven professionals in place to deliver the education to ensure that when a talented kid is discovered he is taught the correct skills , discipline and a professional culture and has all of the tools he needs to make the best of those talents. Maybe breaking this coaching cycle will actually start to see our current culture replaced with something more professional?

I wish Adam Pearson would read and act on these posts - Superb analogy guys.

They probably could do better but we can't carry on in life like this can we? Maybe in a few years when radfords gone we could be saying he & his back room staff set the platform for the next bunch of coaching staff, the talent of players in this town is the best in the country, I have spoke to Cas,Warrington,Wigan,Leeds scouts & they speak of hull as a massive hot bed of rugby, now we are planning for the future from 14 year olds to top level it will only get better but this does not solve our current drop, ( I am no way defending ears in this post either) before I get jumped on like a trampoline.

Fans say its a lack of a quality HB, which is our failing.

When our 19's get steam-rollered 38-0 with a quality HB of Tyson-Wilson in our side,
this is a major major worry - these kids are /will be the future of Hull FC.

We need quality coaches in our set-up ASAP AP.

One of the main problems we seem to have is that when we axe a coach we also axe whatever our current club philosophy is at the time. This latest philosophy is a good one that I think we need to stick to. That doesn't mean that we should necessarily stick with the coaching staff though. If they aren't good enough then we'll never achieve our aims no matter how much time they are given. Hopefully AP is keeping a good eye on all areas of the club and will make changes wherever he feels they are needed. It can't just be more unproven coaches/ex players though.

This is exactly what i have been asking for for ages - when a new coach comes in he brings his own staff with him or recruits who he desires. If you promote people from within the club with the wrong ideas or bad habits they will simply pass these on to the young players, believing they are coaching the right things. Its the same with the core skills, the older senior players won't think they need to develop these any more as they (often mistakenly) think they alreadyhave all the skills necessary to succeed. Thus if any of them become coaches they fail to pass on the crucial skills to their charges as they simply have not enough knowledge of what they should be teaching. The aussie coaches are exactly right when they critisise our lack of these skills. This is just another one of the reasons why we never get close to beating them in a meaningful international

you get what you pay for - most of the time unproven coaches are a cheap option and its a gamble. you have to pay good money for the best. always amazes me how we pay a lot for players but install coaching staff on the cheap (other clubs are just as guilty of this as well)

Quality HB's make the difference when the pack takes control.
A good pack with poor HB's doesn't have the same success.

Our U19s are 7th so at they are doing better than our first team. Take the quality half-backs away and they'd probably be 12th too.

If that's the case though, why aren't there Hull lads flooding through at other clubs?

There's no doubt we could/should be doing better at bringing players through, but 'best in the country' must be over-egging it somewhat. Top talent shines through, and if so many scouts were aware of it in this area we'd be seeing more playing in SL, whether for Hull or not.

And good half backs can't do much behind a poor pack.

Not many can afford to travel a few days/nights a week at the age of 14/16 as most parents don't push or back there own kids, if they are any good FC & kr already have them to play at 16s & 19s but then when they hit the first team level we have either over the hill Aussies or Aussies who can't get a game in their own back yard, last season we had 5 teams with youth structures in the top conference, but we have as SL clubs always gone for quick fix foreigners, there is supposed to be a rule now set by the RFL to not poach youth from other towns/ counties so grass roots shine through in all areas of the RL chosen playing towns/areas.