..says Paul Cooke http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/ru ... ver-269961 Reckons it was much better than the 05 semi which many would say was right up there. Good read; my only regret of the game was that we didn't manage to finish that try which Carlos would have walked in but on reflection Cooke may have a point. When you look at the relative squad qualities it's interesting: Briscoe v Shaul Barnett Jr v Talanoa Yeaman v Tuimavave Whiting v Griffin Raynor v Fonua R Horne v Kelly Brough v Sneyd Dowes v Taylor Swain v Houghton Carvell v Watts McMenemy v Mini Kearney v Manu Cooke v Ellis King v Bowden G Horne v Washbrook Tony v Connor Thackray v Green 05 felt like such a big deal due to the dominance of Saints and how long it had been since we'd made a major final but was Saturday's performance better?

..says Paul Cooke http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/ru ... ver-269961 Reckons it was much better than the 05 semi which many would say was right up there. Good read; my only regret of the game was that we didn't manage to finish that try which Carlos would have walked in but on reflection Cooke may have a point. When you look at the relative squad qualities it's interesting: Briscoe v Shaul Barnett Jr v Talanoa Yeaman v Tuimavave Whiting v Griffin Raynor v Fonua R Horne v Kelly Brough v Sneyd Dowes v Taylor Swain v Houghton Carvell v Watts McMenemy v Mini Kearney v Manu Cooke v Ellis King v Bowden G Horne v Washbrook Tony v Connor Thackray v Green 05 felt like such a big deal due to the dominance of Saints and how long it had been since we'd made a major final but was Saturday's performance better?

Nice bit of humility from PC seeing as he was in that team, was in the form of his life, and it was simply a clinical destruction of a very good Saints team.

Even though the two SFs are only 12 years apart, there's a fair bit of difference between the two.

This past Saturday, I attended expecting Hull to be there or thereabouts and I had a reasonable amount of confidence that they would win. Had they lost I would have been very, very disappointed.

At Huddersfield in 2005, I went along thinking that this was our cup final and was just hoping to enjoy the day. What unfolded before my eyes I found difficult to believe. I can still remember thinking that, even with ten minutes to go and us 28-8 ? up, it would all go horribly wrong and we'd lose. Me and a couple of mates wandered into a pub on our way back to get the train in our Hull shirts after the game and a big cheer went up as all the locals had watched it on the telly.

I suppose on reflection the performance against Leeds this past Saturday by the current team was right up there in terms of an almost complete performance but the win against Saints in 2005 was a better achievement from that particular group of players and with the expectation of the fans at the time, in my opinion, of course.

You're right in terms of different expectations going into the game, although I never expect us to beat Leeds, let alone so comprehensively. I do think Cooke is maybe understating the quality of that 05 performance. Kicking by Brough that day was pinpoint accuracy IMO, forwards were dominant and Cooke himself had one of his best games for the club. Keeping Saints to a single score given their attacking capability was outstanding.

I presume he means since the merger?

For me, 1982 was very special with sully and dukesy playing and those two first half tries against an invincible Widnes as was 1991 premiership final again in the context of the opposition The semi in 2005 was an amazing performance watched it again yesterday but Saturday was very special indeed
All very subjective depending on opinions though

2005 v 2017, no contest for me, 2005 by far the better performance against a much superior team to what leeds put out.

We ran St.Helens ragged in the 2nd half that day and this was a team that hadn't lost in their previous 10 games under Anderson. In fact I'd say last years game against St.helens in the cup were we thrashed them was better than against Leeds.

Going back further there have been a couple of games in the 00s against Saints and Wigan which were absolute demolitions and we were on fire, that performance against Cas when down to 12 men for 3/4 of the match I would say was better too.
There's no doubt the semi was a very very good result and we played excellently but I didn't think they were all that good aside from bits from DM, Watkins and Hall.

Against Saints in '05, to restrict them to 8 points was immense.
Teams:
Briscoe; Barnett, Yeaman, Whiting, Raynor; R Horne, Brough; Dowes, Swain, Carvell, McMenemy, Kearney, Cooke.

Subs King, G Horne, Tony, Thackray.

Wellens; Albert, Lyon, Talau, Gardner; Hooper, Long, Fozzard, Cunningham, P Anderson, V Anderson, Gilmour, Sculthorpe.

Subs Wilkin, Graham, Roby, Fa'asavalu.

The contrast in quality of those 2 teams is massive so i think i'm inclined to agree with you on this one. That was truly great Saints team.

That the key for me. This Leeds team is fairly mediocre. The Saints team of 2005 is probably the best team of the summer era.

Saturday was great but 2005 still better for me, that Saints side was World Class and they only scored due to one error, also reaching a final for the first time in decades felt a bit more special, we've been spoilt with cup finals this last decade!

This for me. We were given absolutely no chance in 2005 as it was a truly great Saints side we were playing. I didn't fully relax until the 75th minute and even then I watched through my fingers as I was just waiting for the well known Saints fightback to happen.
Whilst Saturday was a fantastic performance, we are a better side than 2005 and Leeds are certainly not the side that Saints were that day. The win wasn't expected for me, just hoped for, but it was no shock to see us perform like that as I've been saying for months that an 80 minute performance like that was coming and heaven help whoever it was against. How sweet that it was Leeds in the Semi!