I haven't read the rest of the thread but my take on it is that many people are being a bit harsh on the halves. Seymour was the starting scrum half for one of the better teams in the NRL and a few years ago when he was at Brisbane he was being talked about for origin. Holdsworth has quality but has always struggled with consitancy. A lot was made of the Hull pack before the game, and although losing Ellis was a blow the pack that took the field would still be a tough match for most in SL. Saying that though I thought Lynch and O'Meley (did he even play?) were well beaten my the Leeds front row, and looked a little battle worn to me, and this was an area Leeds were suppose to struggle. Houghton, as mentioned on other threads was terrible and given a lesson by Burrow, and McShane, again a few posters on here thought that Hull would have the advantage in this area. Houghton seemed to take an age distributing the ball from DH, and this is one of the reasons the halves struggled. Hermernia (sp?) was so much better though, and was a positive for Hull.

The back row were also pretty terrible. Galea looked his age, and as usual Westerman showed glimpses of what he can do but frankly I'm not sure he has the bottle for a tough battle, everytime I see him I'm amazed how much Hull paid for him. The back row will no doubt get stronger though when Tickle, and Ellis comes back, and hopefully that will sure up Hull's defense out wide, Arundul will be having nightmares about that performance for a while.

On the plus side I thought Green looked a SL player, and should get more game time, and Crookes tried his nuts off. The defense was all pretty good for about an hour.

As others have said we need to give Seymour and Holdsworth a chance to forge a partnership at half back this season. Last night we came up against a Leeds side that were better prepared physically, dominated possession and territory and, on the back of that dominance, were able to stifle our attacking play. I doubt we'll come up against a better performance from the opposition all season. It's impossible to judge the partnership on the strength of a few minutes against Rovers and against a dominant Leeds performance last night. I think they'll prove to be a much more effective partnership as the season progresses.

I also think McDonnell will add a lot to our attacking options - but again that's three key pivots playing together for the first time. They need to be given time to develop an understanding and then we'll see them to much better effect.

Had we been saying that we were underdone etc then that wouldn't be so worrying. Instead we were told that it was the best pre season ever , that we were physically bigger , fitter and stronger and ready to go. Leeds pack , especially without Kylie Lealuai who always dominates us , are hardly the sort of pack that is feared for it's physicality. I expected problems with getting the plays right , a bit of rustiness etc etc but it was our pack being totally bullied as they were against KR that is the problem and especially our front row.

Could be worse....could have Gaskell and Lomax as our halfs.

If Pearson had the money to buy Chase he needs to go out and get Danny Brough. In my opinion he would turn the squad from probable top 8 to probable top 4 contenders. A class half seems to be desperately missing (though why oh why you signed Arundel is still a mystery to me).

Broughs not the answer, he has four good games then four invisible ones

Seymour made 29 tackles and missed 5...Holdsworth made 21....the worst tackler was Arundel who missed 7.

No chance... He wouldn't want to, doesn't need to but also the wrong side of 30 so getting on a bit aswell!!

Only if you call players in their 20s the wrong side of 30!

He's just turned 30.

Ah, definately too old then!

so mcdonnel is more worried about his hair..crookes shouldnt be in the team ahead of lineman..arundel is a defensive liability..briscoe is dreaming of oz..seymour is rubbish..holdsworth hasnt played well yet..lynch and o"melely were "missing" for most of the game..houghton was too slow ..galea wasnt up to it ..westy played in patches..pitts to small for a prop..whiting poor..green ok ..no wonder we lost we only played with 3 players do we all stay at home now and say this is the worst hull fc team ever AGAIN or do we turn up and support our team

Whats with the double full stops..Makes it so hard to read..is there any real need for this..Or is it just me?

Pedantic I know but what's the point to it?

Anways back to the point, we should stick with Seymour and DJ and let them gel more. Seymour isn't the answer although neither is Heremaia or Horne at half back either. We don't need a world class half, we just need a really good one. Who that will be and when is another matter.
We're almost a brand new team so I'm hoping that we can actually throw the ball across the park alot faster, and spread teams because at the minute we don't and we haven't been able to for years.

Your not wrong there !!!!!!!!!!
I saw enough in Seymore to know he will come good but he cant work behind a beaten pack regardless of how good he is or isnt.
The bigger issue for me was Omeley and Lynch as both looked completely knackered after just a couple of runs apiece, Omeley looked was blowing like a tug after just one run.... therlies the issue for me this season, a man who knows hes going thus going through the motions so far...
Yeah hes big and bad but also well past his sell by date IMO

FC will come good but cant see Omeley ripping up any trees this year

Until our play the ball quickens up- not even Thurston could improve us.

We looked a better team, attack wise, when Heremia came on.