So now the dust has settled, what is everyone's opinion of 2017 as a season? I know the cup run and wembley were amazing again and maybe will cloud our judgement on the season as a whole, but my feeling is it's not been a great season overall.
Heavy defeats at home, losing a number of games to middle 8's bound clubs, massive inconsistencies in performances and only 17 wins from 31 league and play off games tell it's own story.
For me, only castleford have really stood up and shown a decent level of consistency this year whereas most other clubs have had some good bits mixed in with some indifferent ones. This had created a big opportunity for us to go to the GF and probably win it but early season performances and 3 losses against leeds left us with a trip to headingley where we haven't won for a decade and we're out thought and out enthused on the night.
So where do we go in 2018? For me we look weaker as a first 17 but maybe marginally better placed as a squad with abdul and hadley coming back. No doubt wire, saints and wigan will be better next year and add into the mix the return of the dobbins and it will likely make next year tougher than this one.
One thing which has to be put right is our home form which has been below what you'd expect this year and almost cost us a top 4 finish.
So for me it was probably a 7 out of 10 season in SL and we must do better next year or will be sat outsider the top 4 come season's end
Jake the Peg wrote:So now the dust has settled, what is everyone's opinion of 2017 as a season? I know the cup run and wembley were amazing again and maybe will cloud our judgement on the season as a whole, but my feeling is it's not been a great season overall.
Heavy defeats at home, losing a number of games to middle 8's bound clubs, massive inconsistencies in performances and only 17 wins from 31 league and play off games tell it's own story.
For me, only castleford have really stood up and shown a decent level of consistency this year whereas most other clubs have had some good bits mixed in with some indifferent ones. This had created a big opportunity for us to go to the GF and probably win it but early season performances and 3 losses against leeds left us with a trip to headingley where we haven't won for a decade and we're out thought and out enthused on the night.
So where do we go in 2018? For me we look weaker as a first 17 but maybe marginally better placed as a squad with abdul and hadley coming back. No doubt wire, saints and wigan will be better next year and add into the mix the return of the dobbins and it will likely make next year tougher than this one.
One thing which has to be put right is our home form which has been below what you'd expect this year and almost cost us a top 4 finish.
So for me it was probably a 7 out of 10 season in SL and we must do better next year or will be sat outsider the top 4 come season's end
Can't argue with that, more or less my own thoughts to
I agree, I thought we were poor for big chunks of the season (sometimes in victory, as well as in the big defeats). We flatter to deceive with the ball at times, we go side to side too much, and Shaul still hasn't got that creative, try assisting side to his game that some of the other full backs in the league have.
For me, I would keep Shaul to backing up breaks in the middle and capatalising out of dummy half when the markers are not set. I would have Abdull at 13 as an extra pivot as our pack is big enough to lose a 'prop' playing in that position. Watts can still be told to run wider out where he had a lot of success this year.
One of my main worries going into 2017 was whether we'd be able to backup 2016 with another decent year (looking back to 2005/6), and I think we have to be honest.
The obvious highlight was that won the cup again, back-to-back for the first time in our history, beating four Superleague sides along the way - including the league's top2. We turned in some really top class performances in the run, but that makes our league form even more frustrating.
We did manage to get into the playoffs again coming 3rd, albeit we should have had it sewn up long before then. That means we've got to each of the four major semi-finals in the past two years, the only club to do so.
But the league form as a whole was patchy at best, we'd seemingly not turn up for some games. Our ball-retention and discipline at times was dreadful and sides didn't have to do much to score. It's concentration & discipline, when we kept errors & penalties to a minimum, we were almost unplayable, it just didn't happen enough.
We've seem some massive improvements in certain players over the season like Carlos & Bowden. Watts I believe has emerged into a World class prop & Connor has been a great signing.
Shaul's game has been altered so that he's not used as a pivot anymore & we use the 13 instead, but I think that means our attack with ball in hand is a bit flat. That's the main area of improvement I want to see for 2018.
Overall I'd give it an 8/10
The league is getting much more competitive, albeit I think the standard is a fair bit lower than it used to be. I expect 2018 to be even closer.
Cup Winners: 1914, 1982, 2005, 2016, 2017. Cup Runners-Up: 1908, 1909, 1910, 1922, 1923, 1959, 1960, 1980, 1983, 1985, 2008, 2013. League Champions: 1920, 1921, 1936, 1956, 1958, 1983. League Runners-Up: 1957, 1982, 1984, 2006.
Joined: Mar 14 2003 Posts: 25914 Location: Back in Hull.
Positives for for where Our improved attacking play Winning without key players Backing up the cup win (Never since Iv'e been a Hull fan have we won two trophies 2005/2006, was the closest) Young players Better in the super 8's
Home form and big losses are a concern.
Overall more positive than negatives, but certainly things to work on, particularly with tow big losses on the player side.
I think we will be there or there about's next year, think we need to finish in the top two.
Dave K. wrote:Positives for for where Our improved attacking play Winning without key players Backing up the cup win (Never since Iv'e been a Hull fan have we won two trophies 2005/2006, was the closest) Young players Better in the super 8's
Home form and big losses are a concern.
Overall more positive than negatives, but certainly things to work on, particularly with tow big losses on the player side.
I think we will be there or there about's next year, think we need to finish in the top two.
Grand final has to be the aim.
Agree with this. Only thing I want changing is consistency in the league. Leigh and Catalan defeats cost us dear, oooohhhh and a small result like BEATING FFFFING LEEDS!!!! 8 out of 10. Tie Connor down to 5 years, Abdul at loose forward, stop whining about Shaul, his performances in the latter stages were excellent. Ellis will be a massive hole to fill. I think Faraimo’s defence will help immensely, Fonua was a beast but his defence at times was mickey poor, not sure he’ll succeed in the NRL but I do want him to. I’m not one to look back, so I’m looking forward to 2018 with great expectations, maybe the Double
I think we have had a great season winning the CC again. I'm a bit gutted about not getting to OT because I was confident we would make it.
I'm just very happy to see us playing with passion and improving year on year. I often think about the Hetherington/Agar era (it seemed like an eternity of shoite) and how good it is too see us heading in the right direction. I'm gutted we didn't make OT but I think we still have a lot of improvement. We are learning how to play without Ellis and with Radford coaching and Pearsons ambition, I don't see why we can't be more successful next year. Proud of our club at the moment
Joined: Jun 28 2002 Posts: 11184 Location: Castleford
I look back on this season with a great deal of frustration. As the poem goes, when we were good, we were very very good. When we were bad, we were horrid!
Black 'n' White's Best Female 2006 & Runner Up 2007 & 2008 "We will not accept a top eight finish as a barometer of supposed success at any point in the future whilst I am the owner of this club", A Pearson 23/09/2011
Karen wrote:I look back on this season with a great deal of frustration. As the poem goes, when we were good, we were very very good. When we were bad, we were horrid!
Poetry on RLFANS! You can tell we are City of Culture
Joined: Jun 28 2002 Posts: 11184 Location: Castleford
Wilde 3 wrote:Poetry on RLFANS! You can tell we are City of Culture
Black 'n' White's Best Female 2006 & Runner Up 2007 & 2008 "We will not accept a top eight finish as a barometer of supposed success at any point in the future whilst I am the owner of this club", A Pearson 23/09/2011
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