Saints at home up next, i think were probably all expecting another good hiding, im not expecting a win but it's a game were the players need to stand up for 80 minutes and battle, i watched London at Wigan and they dont have the best players but they graft hard for 80 minutes, and never give up, something that cant be said about us very often.
We need a 80 minute performance tomorrow to get our season back on track, win or lose.

I agree with regards to London they have basically the championship squad from last season there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to put up an 80 minute performance but we don’t seem to do it

We need to stop making bloody stupid mistakes, complete our sets and tackle like their lives depend on it. Then who knows? probably another loss, BUT stranger things have happened.

I don’t expect a win tomorrow but I will always hope, just need a good run of possession so no dropped passes or silly penalties. I just think our pack is light so extra sets to defend hits them really hard they tire & the game has gone. Keep it tight & saints have an off day or take us to lightly then who knows.

Hard to be anything other than pessimistic currently.

I said last year, when we were struggling, that when we’re losing more than twice as often as we win, that’s when it starts to cross the line into ‘not fun’, for me. To that extent, i’m a glory fan.

I really hard it to find an angle to make tomorrow’s game interesting, in particular. Even, the ‘stranger things’, ‘against all odds’ narrative seems like an almost comical stretch, unfortunately.

We did surprisingly beat eventual champions Wigan after a similarly poor run of results last year, I suppose.

I don’t think your a glory fan I think we’re all the sameI’ll go tomorrow as always but I’m not looking forward to it I’m going out of habit rather than enjoyment and although we have a good record against Saints at home that saying of you never know doesn’t count tomorrow as we do know we’re going to get beat and that’s a certainty

Have we got 17 players out injured? Can see it being tight for 20 minutes then the heads go down after a few quick scores. We need to be so much more aggressive in defence as a team but not sure it can be done without the big props playing and fit?

We’ll never beat anyone without a pack of some weight.
I thought it was a big mistake hanging on to scruton because he doesn’t play enough. I thought jewitt May come good this year after his king rest last year but no, this years the same - we can’t continue to carry injury prone players in a small squad!! I think everyone knows it

That my friend is true but you get what you pay for

True, but as all clubs are on the same maximum cap it boils down to the apparent fact that the best players go to the best performing clubs to win trophy’s & make the most out of a short career. Until we are considered a big club by the players & their agents we will struggle to get the best or attract the youngsters to commit to us.

I don't want to come across as patronising and that will be hard, but the way round the cap is to create your own players. The fact that all clubs have the same amount of money to spend is largely irrelevant. You have to create players from within your own clubs structure who are good enough to play at super league level, not join forces with another club to do this. Hull produce some of the best players at junior level, tap into this and create a team .

Read what I posted carefully, I said the reason we as a club don’t get the pick of the best players is that they don’t see us a a good choice! It has nothing to do with money. As for producing our own we have, despite the club struggling back from the brink of extinction. Like it or not our rivals across the river have a larger fan base & a lot of youngsters choose them first or are fans. Even when we find a gem we can’t hold them, Scot Taylor, Jon Wilkin are the best example. We just have to be patient & keep trying.

I think this is both true and somewhat misleading.

First off, an acknowledgement that our youth development has yielded disappointingly little in recent years. The criticism we received in our first few years in SL was unfair, given our standing start. However, at this point it is clear something was wrong. Whether that was a talent pool issue or a system issue, i don’t know. Probably a bit of both, I imagine.

I don’t want to come across as demeaning the achievements of St Helens, Leeds and Wigan, and that will be hard. However, those associated with those clubs like to emphasise the value of their youth development, and imo downplay the value of incumbency as top clubs and their bigger rugby budgets. The last is a more relevant measure than the cap and is a big part of the answer to the question that starts ‘if all clubs are spending the same on salaries...’ For most people it is easier to believe nice things, so there is greater focus on the building blocks of success that are considered virtuous.

We started emphasising bringing through young players in 2012, and that was when we started to go backwards on the pitch. The problem was that we were doing it as part of an effort to build a sustainable business more than to build a successful team, with predictable consequences. Jamie Peacock tried to reboot a gradualist bottom-up approach to team building in 2016. And because it was Jamie Peacock and he was saying something nice, many found it plausible - briefly.

Developing more players would help us, undoubtedly. But when I look for patronising advice, it is from the Calder area - from people associated with teams that are striving to achieve as much as they feasibly can, rather than fannying about trying to indulge somebody else’s fairytale. I know all that sounds bitter, but truly we have that right on this subject.

I think that was the idea behind the joint academy, that both Hull clubs would have the pick of the local talent but its probably taking longer than anticapated though.

Bringing the youth through is the answer but that’s easier said than done it’s no coincidence that the most successful teams Wigan Saints and Leeds have brought through loads of players and seemingly integrate a couple each season with ease although that is made easier when your a top side