I'd be interested how you come to that conclussion?

Yes even Hull FC. Or have you conveniently forgotten you have debt?

If Rovers can hang in grinding results on slow, wet pitches its looking good if / when summer rugby finally comes....with hard grounds and a fast mobile pack.

lets keep this simple here is a tale of a pie maker in Hull, he was successful and won a number of awards for his pies and lots of people ate them.

A new pie maker set up a stall and his ambition was to make better pies than the Old Faithful pie maker and invested heavily in recruiting staff and ingredients paying a lot more than they were worth. He took the Old pie makers ingredients at any cost and in doing this the new pie maker fell into deeper and deeper debt.

This wasn't a problem as he knew that the better his pies tasted the more people would buy them and he would quickly win some awards like the old pie maker. The problem was the shop was dirty, hard to find and not very pleasant so not many people bought the pies. Although the old pie makers pies were not as good lots more people bought them every week and they continued to make a profit.

The new pie maker kept spending more and more money in the hope people would turn up and buy his pies however this again didn't happen, he even started charging more to the loyal people who bought his pies in advance however he still couldn't make any money or win any awards.

The old pie maker ignored his new competition and started to slowly create a new and better mix of ingredients with better staff and it only cost him the same money as before. Lots more people liked his pies that he sold in a new and clean shop with lots of choice, those people that kept buying in pies advance were rewarded with cheaper pies and he was transparent about what he was doing telling his customers the truth he was rewarded by making a profit each year whilst developing a very strong pie making business.

Fast forward 5 years which pie maker do you think will be winning the awards, investing profits creating improved ingredients to become one of the best pie makers in England?

This pie-maker that won 'a number of awards'. '1' is a number I suppose. Or are we counting the Carnegie small pies competition?

As I've asked a question, I give you right of reply (aren't I generous?). Then 'Cas game', please.

Well done last night, you played poorly for long parts and still got a win that has to be good in anyones books. Cas are their own worst enemy at times and it showed last night as well as against the Wire.
A tougher test next week to Saints and it will give a better indication into how you are going this season.

Still too early to say how any team is going to do though.

Yep a challenge cup award

Also Super League Grand finalists, another challenge cup final, 9's comp and fairplay award

5 - 0 I think or am I missing 1

We needed the result and that is a boost. We had a good sized slice of luck and it was a far from convincing performance against a team that played erratically. Overall, a small but very important step in the right direction.

The fast mobile pack is a myth really. Most sides have mobile packs. Hull have 3 props who are pretty lightweigh, a 2nd rower who wouldn't look out of place in the centre, and a hooker who has played centre for Australia. There are no plodding packs in SL any more and it's about which half backs can get their forward packs moving around the field which will be the telling factor

We no longer do. Did you not see our accounts that we published early which stated we've paid off our directors loans in full which were our debts.

the result was defo better than the performance, but as they say, thats the sign of a good team, to win when your not playing well.
IMO we seem a little bit off the pace at the minute, our attack isnt firing, our defence out wide looks shoddy, but we still won, hopefully things will come together quickly and the points will keep coming

Agree a wins a win..however you have taken 2 wins from 2 teams who performed poorly, you got a spanking by 2 teams who will be competeting near the top. I do not believe you can be considered a good team at this stage, major improvement in many areas needs to happen quickly.

I think smudger is counting his pies before they come out of the oven, especially as a few of the ingredients are nearing there best before date...

Yes but not necessarily past their sell by date