I've got no problem with the treatment dished out to luauki,it's all part and parcel of the game in my opinion,they tried to wind him up and suceded,he lost his cool and gave away 2 penalties. What i did have a problem with was the continuous taking out of players after the ball had been passed. We're not talking about players already commited to the tackle but cynical attempts to clatter someone off the ball, Also Vella's need to come into the tackle as 4th man when it's already been completed and murrells forearm challenges,the one on Horne in the last 2 minutes was shocking imo.

Disgraceful? Hmmm.

Depends where you draw the line. Although I don't, booing the kicker is fine IMO. Sledging is okay, short of ruffling a player's hair (which for some reason I hate) or standing over an injured opponent. I may have briefly despised Danny Tickle as a lying, cheating fake, but if a Rovers player had done the same it'd have been nowt more than a rueful grin. He's a pro ateotd. I don't excuse cheap shots, nor do I want to see players hurt. My line is crooked, as fans are biased, but some of you are taking it to extremes now, IMO. Your perogative, I guess.

Care to point out the publication in which Hull FC's players have been "spouting drivel"?

Fans' comments on an internet forum, is hardly deserving of a rebuttal in the local press. If Galea was hoping that his comments might gain him some favours from RFL officials, I fear it may have exactly the opposite effect

I'd always had you down as a sensible guy, but if you could watch that performance yesterday and not see the disgraceful and cowardly tactics on display from a number of Rovers players then you're a lot less unbiased than I'd thought.

There is a marked and extremely important difference between hard but fair tackling (or even a bit of 'bif') and constant niggling once a man is on the ground, hitting players off the ball when they aren't even looking, and coming in 4th man with a sly dig.

I think that is my interpretation, rather than his intention. I take your point though.




That hadn't occurred to me. My assumption is that it is his honest, if biased opinion. It was just an example of how there are two sides to every story - for every pile of poo there is an equal and opposite pile of poo. We deserve our poo too!

Having watched the game again I stand by the fact that Lauaki did not help himself one bit. That said whilst there was nothing wrong the the gang tackles on Lauaki they were paying a lot of attention towards his head and a couple of times he took the hit before he retaliated. The ref never gave him any protection whatsoever.

Also noticed that Vella was 4th man in on a lot of occasions, I hope we watch the video of the game before we play them next time and offer a little payback!

Any player singled out by both the officials and players is going to get hurt!
Poor from silverwood very poor and i hope the club make a compl;aint about it too.
Hame was on a hiding to nothing , yes he lashed out and as shuch it asks why wasnt the ref calling a penalty against rovers if they were holding down then , hence why he was trying to get up..
Hame wil be a star for us this season trust me, dont take his agression away thats what makes him so deadly

As far as players are concerned: whatever happens on the field, stays on the field.

Once they start in the press with post-match criticism of opposition players and match officials, then that's a whole new can of worms that should never be opened up.

I'm prepared to accept that rather than Galea wanting to see his comments in print, he made what he thought would be an "off the record" statement. However that does suggest some naivety, given the p1$$-poor editorial standards of the local rag

Hame can consider himself very fortunate not to be put on report. The way he kept headbutting Clit Newtons elbows was a disgrace.
I thought the effort Vella applied was superb as well. Being fourth man into the tackle all afternoon, & not actually completing one himself was an amazing performance.

Is this the Rovers that are at the top of the 'fairplay league'?

I fully agree , I think he's made a rod for his own back and like a few have mentioned , Teams will target him now and Lauaki will have to wise up to this. Still , Silverwood should have done more.

I'm biased and perhaps my bias in exaggerated in this instance, but I don't think I'm alone in that. Disgraceful and cowardly pretty extreme words, especially from sensible posters like you, Sheldon and Robbo. I just don't think it was [ithat[/i extreme a game, and I'm surprised there has been so much focus on it.
I'm not going to make myself any more unpopular over it, anyway.

Did Lauaki actually play?... just saw a grey headguard getting 'told off' by Silverwood throughout!

From what I have just been told he was extremely upset himself by his completely being hung out to dry by the ref himself after the match and Agar DID apparently tell silverwood his thoughts after the match over Hames treatment, by all accounts he is black and blue today from cheap shots but will play on Monday!!

Yep. Seemed like a lot of late shots and OTT aggression watching it first time, but confirmed watching it back. Murrell, Newton and Vella were out of order in what was clearly part of the gameplan. How sad for them that despite this they came off second best. Perhaps they should pick their battles more selectively in future.

Galea's comments about Lauaki and Long for me are the most surprising aspect of this whole thing. Since when do players start bad-mouthing each other in the press, particularly in a game where Rovers employed borderline thuggery as a key tactic? Very, very poor from a player I had respected up to this point.