Last two seasons has been huge for the club, back to back CC wins and making the top 4 but ultimately we've fallen short and not made the grand final to have a chance to get the accolade of 'champions'. next year will be 35 years since we last won the championship trophy and we need to improve in several areas to make that next big step.
Consistency last season was even further away from what LR stated we wanted in terms of differences between performances, absolute rocks and diamonds, this wasn't just because of injuries as we had another relatively good season in that respect but too often we lapsed for big blocks in games so we were either chasing and compounding errors or the opposition were coming back at us from more than a couple of scores back. This is something the coach can change, this is mental preparation, it is his responsibility to instill the players with mental fortitude so that they do things when it gets tough almost without having to think instead of defaulting to old ways. the players need to take responsibility also in sticking with it instead of panicking, build pressure instead of forcing things, that cost us a few wins last year.
Defence - last season we got exposed far too often and in the red zone simply not good enough, we conceded almost 22 points a game, that's the worst since the disastrous 2014 campaign. We also had the worst record for missed tackles and by a fair margin too.
Discipline - too often we are giving away penalties that are hurting us, we had the most penalties against us of any of the top 8 teams, we had the most yellow cards of any top 8 team and we had the most reds though two of them were a joke.
Errors - we were second in the list for errors, top for missed tackles as per above.
A combination of the above means we are making a heck of a lot more tackles, compared to Cas for instance we are defending an extra 7 sets a game, an extra 4.5 sets a game compared to Wigan.
Attack - we scored less per game than last year, equal second lowest average in the last 7 years, we have some great deep threat players, Watts has made some outstanding runs as has mini and Fonua, we also made a ton of clean breaks and we've had some slick midfield passing but the reliance on Sneyd for a kick play in the red zone exposes how little we create in that area. the Houghton no look pass and some dab throughs aside it's an area I'd like to see us improve upon.
On the one hand it shows you how well we did overall considering how we hindered ourselves but it also shows you where we have room for improvement. for me the target area needs to be mental preparation/in game mental fortitude which has such a massive impact on everything else, discipline, errors and missed tackles come from a lack of that and points conceded/scored on from those aspects.
Already planned to make the trip up for the Thursday game against Hudds and it can't come too soon.
HULL FC CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS 2005 GRAND FINALISTS 2006 CHALLENGE CUP FINALISTS 2008 CHALLENGE CUP FINALISTS 2013 CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS 2016 CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS 2017
Our attack needs to massively improve. We are too reliant on our off the cuff stuff . Kelly won us a few games last year . Our ball movement is slow and ponderous at times .
Last two seasons has been huge for the club, back to back CC wins and making the top 4 but ultimately we've fallen short and not made the grand final to have a chance to get the accolade of 'champions'. next year will be 35 years since we last won the championship trophy and we need to improve in several areas to make that next big step.
Consistency last season was even further away from what LR stated we wanted in terms of differences between performances, absolute rocks and diamonds, this wasn't just because of injuries as we had another relatively good season in that respect but too often we lapsed for big blocks in games so we were either chasing and compounding errors or the opposition were coming back at us from more than a couple of scores back. This is something the coach can change, this is mental preparation, it is his responsibility to instill the players with mental fortitude so that they do things when it gets tough almost without having to think instead of defaulting to old ways. the players need to take responsibility also in sticking with it instead of panicking, build pressure instead of forcing things, that cost us a few wins last year.
Defence - last season we got exposed far too often and in the red zone simply not good enough, we conceded almost 22 points a game, that's the worst since the disastrous 2014 campaign. We also had the worst record for missed tackles and by a fair margin too.
Discipline - too often we are giving away penalties that are hurting us, we had the most penalties against us of any of the top 8 teams, we had the most yellow cards of any top 8 team and we had the most reds though two of them were a joke.
Errors - we were second in the list for errors, top for missed tackles as per above.
A combination of the above means we are making a heck of a lot more tackles, compared to Cas for instance we are defending an extra 7 sets a game, an extra 4.5 sets a game compared to Wigan.
Attack - we scored less per game than last year, equal second lowest average in the last 7 years, we have some great deep threat players, Watts has made some outstanding runs as has mini and Fonua, we also made a ton of clean breaks and we've had some slick midfield passing but the reliance on Sneyd for a kick play in the red zone exposes how little we create in that area. the Houghton no look pass and some dab throughs aside it's an area I'd like to see us improve upon.
On the one hand it shows you how well we did overall considering how we hindered ourselves but it also shows you where we have room for improvement. for me the target area needs to be mental preparation/in game mental fortitude which has such a massive impact on everything else, discipline, errors and missed tackles come from a lack of that and points conceded/scored on from those aspects.
Already planned to make the trip up for the Thursday game against Hudds and it can't come too soon.
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
One error per game more than Leeds, 2017 One penalty per game more than Leeds, 2017.
I know, stats are meaningless.
Exactly, I saw with my eyes when these penalties when and where, same with errors.
Lets be honest Leeds where pretty average for most of the season, just peaked at the right time.
Agree with Dave K its not just about penalties and errors but its also where and when they were being made that cost us.
We also need to improve our attacking threat as far too often we relied on a bit of Kelly magic, we need better options for the runner as far too often a break was made and there was no one was in support. We also seem to have far too deep a line going forward as we have gone 15-20 metres backwards from PTB so when the tackle is made we are actaully no further forward than where the ball was played.
I don't think it major changes just more tweaks and adjustments.
I don't think it major changes just more tweaks and adjustments.
Agreed, we play the way Radford wants us to, and it got us another Wembley win and one game from the GF, yes, we do need to be better in attack, but we don't need wholesale changes.
I think we need to get the ball wider, quicker. Our passing is painfully slow, and part of the reason why Shaul isn't effective as a 'ball handler' if he got the ball quicker, in more space then I am sure he will make better decisions.
Discipline is also key. Try and keep 13 on the pitch more often than not would be a good start
