Apologies, I forgot about their game today.

So as you pointed out, a Wakey win today and next week, puts them 8th and us 9th. Really shabby end to a bollox of a season. I went to Nth. Cave after the game yesterday and a Cas bus was there. Had a bit of banter with them about us being crap. Normally I would have said” give the Dobbins a tonking” but my heart just wasn’t in it.



Play offs are interesting.

If Cas and Leeds win, Dobbins drop out of the six

Dobbins and Cas win, Leeds drop out

Dobbins and Cas lose, Cas drop out.

Wakefield lost to Leigh so they cannot catch us even if they win next week. We are confirmed in eighth place.

Time to blood some kids in then, get their debuts out the way and maybe give some of our misfiring stars a kick up the...ahead of pre season

Agreed.



I'd like to see how Ferreira goes plus Burrell who only got two minutes against Huddersfield. Maybe Hookem and Staveley who looks massive and is highly rated.

The fixtures have been totally lopsided. Its just lucky that there aren’t two teams vying for relegation, and who they actually played dictated who went down. It will dictate some of the play off positions though, and the Dobbins has had it work in their favour.



The removal of scrums and the arbitrary six again rule has also benefited certain teams.

We’re not one of them due to our lack of pace. It’s suited teams like the Dobbins due to them playing a more unstructured style.



The whole season has been bang average, not just because of Hulls form.

That is without doubt the 'science' of it and you are spot on. Make no mistake about it we have been crap of late and seem to have taken a step backwards to 'the same old' from a bright start to the season. Whats more it is in fact hard to see what changes we can make to redress the situation in our current financial and contract state. At the other side of the City its fair to say that Hull KR are probably playing with more heart and passion than we are at present as well (however strangely they still couldn't beat us in what has been their cup final for years probably ironically because some of our under performers were motivated by the significance of the game to the other side) but to gloat in such a way based on a season that is so imbalanced where everyone hasn't played everyone twice and who you have played has been allocated by such a scatter gun way is just naive really. Looking at who Leeds, Cas and rovers have played In the end in 2021 the bottom half of the play offs could well be dictated by who you have managed to avoid in the fixture list this year rather than who you have played.

The bit in bold is the nail on head for me in terms of this season as its been a bit of a farce and TBH worse than last year as at least effort was put in by clubs to fulfil fixtures where as this season it seemed to be the opposite with opposing teams not affected not taking up offers to play other opponents.



The sooner the season is finished the better for everyone I think and they all both RFL & SL (Europe) need to take a long hard look at themselves for the situation & state the game is in.

It’s not just us that think we’re a big club. Fans of other clubs acknowledge we are a big club. Even Hudgell said it. One that has underperformed massively, to the detriment of the game. The game needs more strength in depth.

Being a big club is not about trophies anyway. It’s about the support you have , and the support you could potentially get.

Hull, Leeds, Saints & Wigan are the only clubs capable of potentially getting big crowds on a consistent basis. It’s just a fact, not arrogance on our part.

Go back to when both Hull teams were the top ones in the league. One club got much bigger attendances than the other. I live in Hedon and you see far more FC tops than Dobbins. And that’s in a town East of Hull.



For one reason or another, Hull haven’t unlocked that potential. We’ve come close a couple of times, but ultimately failed. That’s the frustration.

I take your point on the whole. I think you overestimate the value of crowd side though in the definition of a big club. On that basis Newcastle would be considered a big Premiere League side. I don’t think so. For some reason as with FC they attract large crowds, for their sport but achieve very little in the league.

I'm not going to start saying my dad's bigger than yours or that one 'decent' season is either the sign of an up turn in fortunes or just a flash in the pan. What I will say is the general feeling is one of positivity and for once in a while I'm actually enjoying watching RL, even when we've lost games we've generally played good on the eye entertaining rugby. In a post(ish) covid world I think that could be a crucial factor in pass sales next year.



The fact we lost games to Covid when we did did us little favours, we were playing well and on a winning run and then we had the compounded effect of us getting covid and losing 2 games and then I think it was the 4 next games cancelled due to other teams getting covid on top of that. We replayed the Cats away game so in effect we only cancelled one game due to ourselves. The reluctance of teams to then fulfil a fixture after that was something the RFL should have addressed, there certainly seemed little appetite for any team to try and push it though.



I do think Hull threw the kitchen sink at our 'cup final' and that seems to have had a detrimental effect on the season for you lot. I'm not sure how many players were rushed back for that game but going from barely being able to raise a team to being as near as full strength in a week was some feat, typical derby game in the end the team in form lost.



The bigger club thing is always thrown around, what is a big club? In non RL terms you could argue that Newcastle are a bigger club than Chelsea, all big does is raised (unrealistic) expectations. Even in RL terms its still a long way behind the likes of Wigan and Leeds.

Totally agree with the Newcastle comparison. I’d use the same one. Potential never fully realised.

Chelsea will now be considered a big club, even though it’s purely down to money.

Historically though, clubs like Newcastle, Everton and Villa would have d been classed as being bigger clubs.





The comparison in Super League is Warrington. They’re lucky enough to have rich owners, but I wouldn’t class them as a big club. Rovers are bigger than Warrington , and that was the case when you were in a league below them.

They just happen to be cash rich at this moment in time, and therefore classed as a bigger club than what they actually are.

I take your points Barham Red. I think how your own club is performing colours how you feel about the game generally.



With Hull it’s always jam tomorrow and it’s wearing thin. Being sent into the off season watching an awful Hull side being beaten by a really poor Wigan one (how are they fourth?!) won’t fill many with enthusiasm.