Technically there’s some truth in that. There are no more rounds in the cup after the final (hence its name), and there are only 2 rounds in the play-offs.

You say league form was poor last year, but you still came in third.

To my eye, Hull play a high intensity game based on aggressive defence, that can knock even the very best SL teams off their stride. However, you’re bound to have some low energy days in there too and when they happen they’re pretty obvious. Radford’s triumph has been to ensure they’re relatively rare. While making a profit in the transfer market.

The loss of Ellis and, despite his disciplinary issues, Watts means the rest of the pack have to step up. If you cease to dominate physically, you will drop down the table, that’s for sure. But as it stands, you’re fifth and still in with a shout.

disappointed in Bowden and green this year, on there day very good but Bowden inconsistent and green when he plays is good but just seems to be injured a lot, also don't see a lot in lane apart from effort, mini and manu again mixed bag although tbf to manu when fit hes played well, hopefully get westy up to scratch soon, still hopeful we can have a good cuprun but top 4 not looking good imo

Ultimately I think this year is proving to be a bit of a squad transition year, coupled with injuries (we've not had too much bad luck with them in the past couple of seasons) which have led to younger players getting more game time.

The loss of Ellis, Fonua and now Watts, plus an ageing Minichiello has had an impact, but in 12 months time we'll see the benefit of the game time that the likes of Fash, Matongo, Lane etc are having.

Agree that Bowden has been off his game this season, he seems to have changed his style a bit. Usually he hits contact and stays upright, facing his own line and driving backwards to make metres whilst being open for the offload. Now he seems to be more regular with his approach. Confidence maybe?

I don't think we're too far off, as long as we hit the Super 8's either in top 4 or within a couple of points, then I'd back Radford to get us to the semi's, whilst having another good cup run. The league structure as it is doesn't require a team to be perfect week in, week out, and as mentioned above, the intensity we play at sometimes means that we will get those off days.

Last night was more down to not having Sneyd (and later Kelly) on the pitch from a game management perspective and the final play calls were poor as a result. Abdull doesn't fit our style of play, and I think that was evident last night.

Could do with another mid season signing to help the forwards. Westerman can hopefully do a good job for us, but still think we need another quality prop to replace Watts. I have no concerns about us in the backs.

Aye, Phil Clarke used to waffle on about consistency of performance and narrowing the gap between best and worst, and that being the difference between the best teams and the rest. Even assuming he meant only cutting out the worst performances rather than simply being more even, it’s still pretty much nonsense. It’s about being good enough often enough and at the right times.

You been smoking crack? Theres no feckin way we'll be anywhere near the top four, Saints, Wigan, Cas, Wire are all far better sides - Were now two points behind Cas and they have played two less games than us

and penalties which are killing us

I agree about Abdull but surely thats a coaching mistake when Connor could have played half back allowing Tuimavave to start.
In my opinion Abdull,Turgut, and Downs are nothing more than Championship players and should be released end of the season allowing us to add possibly one better quality player.

Is that the Wire team that looked average against us and we beat quite effortlessly? I don't think they're all that.
I'll give you the other four. Leeds will no doubt turn it back on when it matters also. Let's not go over the top. We've had worse results mid-season and still achieved. In fact, we got battered about 5 times last season and still nearly did the double.

We're comparing league form too much to 2016. Top of the table ain't gonna happen obviously, but you don't need that unstoppable Saints form (and Cas last year) to get into the top four... or even win the GF it seems. We're missing something at the moment, but I believe it will come.

exacly what we did last year, beat the champs (wigan) and lost to the bottom club in Leigh.

There are some over reactions on this thread, but that’s not a new thing on this forum. We got beaten by a team desperate for a win. The annoying thing is we fell into their trap of it becoming a slow game.

We started without Out scrum half and our full back and lost both of the starting halves during the game.

To say many regard our pack as a massive unit, we rarely threaten the opposition line with these blokes when we have a play the ball close to the line.

...time to start watching York: 144-0 winners against West Wales Raiders.

I know its old news but we certainly miss Watts.Our pack Taylor apart is weak and we are having to use Paea much more than envisaged as he was to be our regular impact prop off the bench.
We will never know what happened internally re Watts but from a playing point of view a huge loss to the team.
i just wonder whether Kelly got a get out of jail card because of Watts going.
You can imagine the fans reaction if Kelly had been sacked meaning the club effectively dismissed their two best players.