Raw with a mistake or two in him. DR will hopefully iron out that.

A few reflections this morning.
Well it certainly wasn't free flowing pretty rugby, and it turned into a real arm wrestle (which I think most of us thought it would be), but I have bags of admiration for this team's tenacity to stay in the fight and for their mental strength in remaining calm and not panicking when behind on the scoreboard. To say we 'ground out a win' is an understatement. Thought we struggled to make metres throughout the 80 minutes and so were unable to put them under any sustained pressure, and we certainly rode our luck on a few occasions, but two bits of magic from the Emperor Sezer swung the contest in our favour. His late disguised pass to Chamberlain for the game changing try was worth the ticket price alone! The way Chamberlain then wrong footed the covering full-back in scoring was the cherry on top of that moment. Like most on here, Chamberlain's signing hardly set my pulse racing, but think he showed last night that, under Cartwright's tutelage, he will do a job for us, unfussy and unheralded most probably, but when needed he will stand up and be counted, as will everyone, no one gets in this team if you are not prepared to put your (hardworking) shift in.


It's now perfectly clear, six games into the season, that we have progressed from last year's nightmare horror show at a rate beyond anything any of us could have realistically hoped for even only a month ago. The basis of this is the coterie of seasoned toughened professionals brought in, providing the backbone of a revitalised club (Sezer, Asiata, Hardaker, Briscoe, Cartwright junior) along with of course a highly experienced head coach setting out what is expected of everyone when they take to the field to represent the shirt, the club and us. The strategy of bringing these people into the club can now be seen as part of the process of repairing the damage of recent years, putting us back on an even keel and setting us in an upward direction once more. For the first time in a long while it feels like there is a carefully considered joined up line of thinking as to what is required for us to succeed, in both the short term and for further down the track. Virtually everyone brought into the club over recent months is contributing massively to dragging us up by our bootlaces and at least making the team a competitive force again. There is still a large part of the season left and whether we can maintain this intensity for 7/8 months, especially if injuries to key players bite, remains to be seen, but I doubt this side will die wanting for effort and commitment which is all any of us have been asking for through these recent dark days.


Also, a point about the lack of a stadium clock last night (technical issues I surmise!). It felt like a throwback to the old days, trying to work out how many minutes may be added on after the 40 was up (nigh on impossible these days with the endless stoppages). I usually try to avoid clock watching, especially when it's a close encounter, but the lack of one last night didn't do my heart rate much good once 21:45 ticked past!! I can do without heart-racing scares at this time in my life, thank you very much!!!


Finally, a mention about Logan Moy, as I see a few have commented this morning. He was under a lot of pressure at times last night and he did come up with a couple of errors, but he didn't let his head go down, he recovered his composure and through the last frantic twenty minutes or so he was excellent. For a young teenager to remain focussed after a trying ordeal speaks highly of him. It would have been highly disruptive if he had been substituted necessitating a rearrangement of the back division, but he stuck at his task and responsibilities, no doubt helped immeasurably by the old hands mentioned already, and he played his part in the victory. Like I said, if you're not contributing you don't get into this team, it really is all for one with Hull Fc 2025, we live as a team we die as a team all together, including the fan base.


So, it's on to Wheldon road, and another potentially winnable game, as a top-four side. Who'd have thought it just a short while back. Maybe it will all come crashing down around our ears again (who knows?) but right now watching the Fc feels a damn sight better than feeling despondent every single weekend after the latest horror show. Onwards and upwards as we now say around these parts.      

Is Holmes anywhere near being ready to play? With Cartwright out again, we could really do with an actual second rower rather than having Fash/Chamberlain playing there 

It didn't do much for my nerve endings either in the last few minutes! I'm getting too old for this kind of malarkey!!!


PS Hope you and your old man are all good mate? 

Always annoys me when posters are rude about grafting players who put themselves on the line. I’m thinking of Chamberlain who was great last night and Fash whose defence was great. These sort of players aren’t flashy though great try from the former but are vital cogs as evidenced last night. It’s a squad game and they can’t all be Sezers 

Remember he’s only young and will get better. Do prefer Ratana at FB. He was under intense pressure. I wish didn’t go sidewards and he needs to work on his passing game but these will improve