2nd of our back to back CC wins. Who'd have believed you if you'd told people back then how far we'd have fallen in so few years?

Must be the first year that the club hasn't mentioned the anniversaries of the Cup wins on social media. Probably a good thing.

What great times they were and how many of us will take them to our graves. But......

In fairness it's hard to actually believe how any club could fall so far in that time and yet maintained a fan base like ours. I know that the club have stage managed this season because of the IMG stuff (at our expense as the long suffering fans) but had it not been the case and it was a regular season, we have been so rubbish at recruitment on and off the field we would now be relegation certs anyway and destined for probable oblivion.

Season ticket sales will be ice lollies to eskimo's although many of us will be 'conned' again I guess but with Wakey coming up, its going to take some pretty special stuff to see us off the bottom next year anyway, despite our 'Experienced signings'. I'd love to know what Cartwright thinks sat there in the NRL watching our lot and knowing he's going to be overseeing them next season. Our youth is our only hope.

However, Its going to be so hard to be anything but adequate, we need two top class leaders as our quota spaces are filled yet where are they out there and if they were why should they come to this lot? Let's hope the age of miracles isn't passed. but one things guaranteed most of us will be there with them next season once again being killed all over again by the hope!!!!

We've had two periods where we've been on the cusp of establishing ourselves as a top side in super league and messed it up, 2004-6 we built a top quality team, won the cup and made it to our one and only grand final going 13 games unbeaten in the process, then mismanagement with cooke contract and the subsequent sacking of probably our best coach of the SL era and appointment of our worst led to a period of decline. Then in 2016/17 we could have again established ourselves as a top side that competes at the top, but poor recruitment in 2018 with the likes of fariamo, paea, Dawson Jones, langtree, nzogu and the like, combined with the loss of Ellis, minichello, Manu, fonua (1st time) meant that we lost the platform we had built for ourselves, we've never recovered and further cost cutting and poor recruitment in Gale, Reynolds, Pele, Okunbor, Evans etc has led us to where we are now
Heartbreaking really

All very true, but also all of it could have been easily forseen and avoided by competent management - something Hull has (with 20/20 hindsight) lacked throughout.

Of course, the Hetheringtons sacking Peter Sharp to install their (inept) godson was devastating stupidity; but that's nepotism for you.

Personally, I consider Pearson doing the same to Peter Gentle in favour of Radford (no nepotism to excuse this one) as almost as bad.

I've always believed that Peter Sharp could have taken us to the top of the game if he'd had the right support. Similar to Cartwright, a very experienced assistant coach in Aus with a great skill set. Let's hope Cartwright gets the support that Sharp didn't and turns it around for us in the next few years.

I remember going to this game without an ounce of nerves, a complete contrast to the year previous. It just felt right for this club to wait over 150 years to win at Wembley, to then do it two years on the bounce.

What a team that was, Sneyd, Kelly, Shaul and Houghton, a spine all in the prime of their careers. Looking back i was probably guilty of taking that squad for granted, i hope for us to be able put a squad of similar quality together in the near future, it does sadly feel a bit of a way off.

Good post Pete.

Be nice to think there's a couple of signing announcements to announce this week in the build up to the Cas game to give us all a boost

The club has been so badly managed in terms of recruitment and retention. We've wasted huge amounts on poor players. Makes you wonder where we would be had we had a "proper" rugby man in charge of signings

Throughout the 2017 run we looked like a team on a holy mission to retain the cup. Beating Cas at a time when they were looking unstoppable in the league, the semi-final demolition of Leeds when we imperiously swatted them aside in the second half. We looked like a group with a clear objective in mind and woe betide anyone who got in our way.

In truth, the final should have been a repeat of the Leeds game, so dominant were we, but we couldn't quite kill off Wigan in the second half (credit to them for hanging in) and we very nearly saw the prize slip through our fingers in the last few minutes, which would have been a travesty if it had come to pass. Remember Wane graciously conceding that the best side had won on the afternoon.

Even at the point of victory I promised myself to enjoy the moment. I have been watching us for far too long to ever take success for granted. Even in August 2017 there was a quiet nagging voice in my head telling me that there is always a price to be paid for success when it comes to our club, Witness the aftermath of the 1991 Premiership triumph and the 2005 (Cardiff) / 2006 (GF) achievements. There always seems to be a swift fall after a tortuous climb to the summit where we are concerned.

But not even in my most pessimistic nightmares did I ever envision a slow steady seven year decline from the heights of Wembley euphoria to the depths of being outclassed by a glorified championship side. Seven successive years in which we have continued to slip down the hill with no one at the club seeming to have either the awareness or the gumption to apply the handbrake to stop the bus from sliding down the mountain side, a bit like the end of the Italian Job!!!

I will always treasure Wembley 2016/17 as the two most special moments in my time following the club, but there seems to be something about the club which stymies prolonged success after our irregular triumphs. It's what makes us one of the most frustrating clubs to follow. We never quite seem to be where we all think we should be, there is nearly always a piece of the jigsaw missing somewhere stopping us from truly scaling the heights. Although in 2024 we would appear to have lost the whole jigsaw and the box with the picture on the front such is the predicament we now find ourselves in!!

How NOT to run a sporting organization (Hull Fc 2018 - 2024).