Peter Sterling. Absolutely immense. He had it all.
The game against the 82 touring side that played us at the Boulevard was one of the greatest games I`ve ever seen. I was gutted to see them all leaving I can tell ya.

Swain, Cooke and Manu............. Will hate to see Manu line up against us next season, 1 of a kind.

Before my time but my dad used to rave about Bruce Ryan. The first aussie I can remember was Keith Gittoes (which shows what an old *** I am.)

Can't remember the actual match but it was a Friday night game with a big crowd and Swain came out onto the field with Domic to say their goodbyes to the crowd. Domic was no world beater but he was decent enough and they'd both been in our grand final team, so it felt like a real era ending as they stood there. Turned out that way too because we've been poop since.

Richie Barnett Snr - rarely been so happy to hear we'd signed a player, gutted when he left.
Likewise Jason Smith.
Colin Best as others have mentioned - clearing out some old videos yesterday happened across a recording of our 20-20 draw with Wigan at the KC when he picked up a loose ball on the 40 and ran diagonally across the field past four tacklers to score in the opposite corner to put us ahead for the first time in the game.
Jody Broughton is a left field suggestion but I really rate him now and got the impression we could have had him for nothing - we've been scratching around for a winger since.


I think some of the departures this time will be hard to stomach but at the end of the day this group of players have been winning nothing so maybe they're not as good, or committed, as we think.

Lee Jackson.... the first time of corse...

Agree with many of the above mentioned players,

especially....
Crooks
Kemble
Schofiled
Sterling

Also gutted when Bri Smith left as coach. Really enjoyed the team he was building with his 'no stars here' policy having a personal dig at the ego's down the M62 at Headingley.

Met him on Wembley Way before GB v Aus in 1990 with Staffs FC and we offered to fly him back if we made the Cup Final. Top Bloke!

Not so old when I tell you I saw my first Hull match a year or so before Watt, Jackson and Ryan arrived at the Boulevard in 1947. Gittoes came in 1948 and left in 1957 although I believe he returned to Australia for a time in that period.

Your dad was right about Ryan- I idolised him as a kid. Can remember tries scored from the opposition half when Jackson fed the scrum, Watt won the ball and Jackson gave it to Ryan coming through a gap on the open side of the scrum to sprint away to the line.

such a shame we didnt have cameras then,be great to see them in action,my first match was fc v cas, chris davidson was scrum half,the great arther keegan fullback,hardisty and hepworth where there 2 halfbacks, i remember hepworth playing for us at the backend of his career,still good then,he partnered j newlove, think there combined ages was about 90 lol

So I'm STILL the only one who was gutted when Hasler, Doyle, Grant and Divet left at the same time ???

Can't believe no-one else has mentioned them !!

At the time I was, especially Divet, but they weren't that good.

Hasler was good, the others were OK, Entat never gets the credit he deserves from a similar era.

Entat was one of the best i ever saw, his work rate was incredible

when you think we've had Entat, Hasler, Mackey it does make you wonder why we've never really had a similar player (Dykes if he'd been fit I guess) in the SL era...?

Same here.

Our game against the Aussies of 82 remains possibly the greatest performance I've ever seen from an Fc side even though we ended up losing,taking into account the standard of the opposition. We went toe to toe with arguably the greatest team in the history of RL. Certainly no team has ever had such an impact on the way in which the game is played nor on the development of the sport. The most influential group of players in RL history and for an hour we had them severely rattled. I remain convinced to this day that if O'Hara's try had stood we would have prevailed that night.

To cap it all off, one of the stars of that magnificent team ended up playing for us. I think most would agree that Peter Sterling's impact and standing within our club's history has only been matched by Johnny Whiteley and Steve Norton but both of those players had far longer careers with us than Sterlo. No one has ever left such a lasting impression with the faithful in such a short period of time. Even at the time I was gutted when his spell with us came to an end. We all knew that players of this calibre only come along once in a lifetime and to see him and knocker playing in B&W hoops at the same time gave me memories to last a lifetime. Even though we all knew Sterlo wouldn't be with us for long (technically of course he never was our player as such, merely a loan signing) it was still heartbreaking when he returned home.

I was also saddened to see Crooks & Schofield depart, although at the time (Summer 87) it was more to do with a feeling of underlying tension that, after a golden period of excitement and at times incredible rugby, something clearly wasn't quite right down Boulevard way. And, if truth be told, we've never fully returned to the heights of 1979-85 (2 cups notwithstanding).

These days I tend to be somewhat more ambivalent and philosophical about players leaving, it's very much part and parcel of the modern game. Particularly as today the game is the player's main source of income with which to provide for his future and his family, and seeking out the best option in what is a limited career time span is understandable. I know we all get a tad upset when a favourite player leaves us to ply his trade elsewhere, but players come and players go. Ultimately the club (and more importantly the fans) go on.

Having said all that I will be sorry to see Manu leave for Sts at the end of the season. He is one of the few players currently playing in SL with that magic X factor that gets you out of your seat. In an increasingly rigid climate of set-plays,game-plans and training ground moves, he is one the few modern day players who can alter a game with an off the cuff moment. In what has been a frustrating and, at times, downright depressing period for the club, Manu has been one of the few to provide some exciting rugby and I'm sure in years to come it will be those moments that we will recall rather than his departure.

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