Fri 19th Apr: SL: St Helens v Hull FC KO 20:00 (Sky/SuperLeague+)

17 minutes ago, jacksy said:

Expected. The young lads did themselves proud.

They really did. Never backed down.

18 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Looked like men against boys and when you consider the young kids littering the Hull team then that's why. Very pleased with their efforts tonight, some much more experienced Hull teams have been on the end of worse defeats. The penalty count must have ended up about 9-1 in favour of Saints and the first six again awarded to Hull was in the last ten minutes when the score was 52-0 so they were really up against it.

I just hope that the kids don't lose heart and keep turning up for each other, there is some real talent there.

 

As you say, mate, men against boys. Some of those kids looked as it they were giving three or four stone away against their opposite number but they stuck at it.

Been a long time since I've seen so much talent coming through but we desperately need some quality and experience in the side to stop them being over exposed.

53 minutes ago, Ullman said:

As you say, mate, men against boys. Some of those kids looked as it they were giving three or four stone away against their opposite number but they stuck at it.

Been a long time since I've seen so much talent coming through but we desperately need some quality and experience in the side to stop them being over exposed.

Bang on.

The difference between this defeat and your previous hammerings, is that the boys put plenty of effort in and deserve a great deal if credit.

Them very young lads must wonder what had hit them when the likes of Hurrell was running full on at them (must be like being hit by a bus) but they kept getting back up and giving it there all .

Fc need to get some experienced players in just to steady the ship and not break these very promising young players they have.

Although they were on the wrong end of a big score, there was no sign of a white flag.  They did themselves proud and showed the more senior surrenderers what pride in performance is all about.

Nice to see Hull FC fans backing the team on here 

Fair play to Lomax and Makinson who looked like they were giving words of encouragement to the young lads at the end.

From a Saints perspective, I much prefer Welsby at 6. Lomax or Dodd at 7. Benninson however, in that structure is not the answer at 1; not quick enough nor does he have the right level of ball playing ability to make up for the lack of pace. 

Solid performance from us against a hard working young Hull side (some positive signs with some of those young kids). I do wish Wellens had used the opportunity to blood at least one of our young outside backs though. A missed opportunity. 

Pele and Ese'Ese have got a size advantage on the likes of Lees, Delaney and Mata'utai and they really do not run their weight. The young Hull players gave their best effort but I didn't think their more experienced players led in the way that you would expect them to. Really tough times for Hull at the minute.

I didn't see the game last night, but I did see their previous 2 games. As a neutral, I thought they had good patches in those previous games, winning or drawing the second halves (i.e. not throwing the towel in), but they just looked out-gunned and were exposed defensively throughout. Was this performance against Saints any different, or is there perhaps an element of cutting them more slack because of the change of coach? I'm finding the whole situation at Hull completely bizarre at the moment and from an outside perspective I think they've got rid of the best man for the job.

So if it's not Smith/Last/Hodgson's fault this week, who's is it?

On 20/04/2024 at 21:53, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

I didn't see the game last night, but I did see their previous 2 games. As a neutral, I thought they had good patches in those previous games, winning or drawing the second halves (i.e. not throwing the towel in), but they just looked out-gunned and were exposed defensively throughout. Was this performance against Saints any different, or is there perhaps an element of cutting them more slack because of the change of coach? I'm finding the whole situation at Hull completely bizarre at the moment and from an outside perspective I think they've got rid of the best man for the job.

I think the difference against Saints was that it was a very, very young and inexperienced team. We knew there was no chance of a result, we just wanted them to go and give it their best and for the most part they did. Previously its been senior players letting us down when they really should do better.

From the 17 against Saints we had, Moy, Martin, Litten, Charles, Balmforth, Gardiner, Jebson and Laidlaw who are all 21 or younger. Out of that lot only Litten has played more than 10 first team games I believe. There are some talented kids amongst that lot, but we all understand that they are not ready yet and have been thrown into this situation because we don't really have any other option. 

Its a baptism of fire for them, but if they have the right attitude then they will be a lot better for the experience they are getting this year.