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Newcastle Knights forward Neville Costigan will join Hull Kingston Rovers next season having agreed a two-year deal with the club.

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Great. Another Australian at Hull KR. They just got Weyman and are in the market for an Aussie halfback too.

 

Been in SL since 2007, and still haven't developed one decent player of their own, and still rely on more than 50% of the team being Aussies.

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Great. Another Australian at Hull KR. They just got Weyman and are in the market for an Aussie halfback too.

 

Been in SL since 2007, and still haven't developed one decent player of their own, and still rely on more than 50% of the team being Aussies.

Way out GC, your bias showing ever so slightly..

 

Taylor, Cox, Welham all England or Knights squad, Wigan happy to splash £100,00 on Taylor..Saints keen on Beaumont, Mariano just signed a nice deal at Cas, 19 year old Salter just about an ever present in a top 6 team this year..another 8 academy players have made debut this year or last..

 

Seven overseas origin in the 17 yesterday, of these Dobson, Paea,Withers and Mika leaving together with Paterson and O' Hara so with an overseas half back looking favourite this would be 6 out 3 in.. a good net reduction..and like all SL clubs HKR will be fully compliant with the rules of the competition..

 

In fact in contrast to your nasty (but enlightening) little post i would suggest KR deserve a fair bit of credit all round, managing to upgrade the stadium to a very nice RL ground, get a very decent Academy set up running from nothing since 07 and achieving a substantial reduction in reliance in overseas players all while getting a competitive side on the park on on an unlevel playing field ..(this season will be 5 top 8's from 7 i believe)... in fact they are without doubt the ideal inspiration for any promoted club to follow..

 

Sometimes , no matter who it is, credit is due..

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Great. Another Australian at Hull KR. They just got Weyman and are in the market for an Aussie halfback too.

 

Been in SL since 2007, and still haven't developed one decent player of their own, and still rely on more than 50% of the team being Aussies.

Dobson, Paterson, O'Hara, Withers, Paea and Mika all leaving so that will be 6 foreigners out and 3 in.

 

Welham, Cox, Salter are all decent Super League players and another Rovers product Scott Taylor was considered good enough by Wigan to pay a transfer fee for. Rovers have also been recruiting good young English players like Josh Hodgson,Greg Eden, Adam Walker and George Griffin. None of those players were getting much first team rugby before they came to Rovers now they are regular Super League players and the team is doing quite well in 6th place.

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Way out GC, your bias showing ever so slightly..

 

Taylor, Cox, Welham all England or Knights squad, Wigan happy to splash £100,00 on Taylor..Saints keen on Beaumont, Mariano just signed a nice deal at Cas, 19 year old Salter just about an ever present in a top 6 team this year..another 8 academy players have made debut this year or last..

 

Seven overseas origin in the 17 yesterday, of these Dobson, Paea,Withers and Mika leaving together with Paterson and O' Hara so with an overseas half back looking favourite this would be 6 out 3 in.. a good net reduction..and like all SL clubs HKR will be fully compliant with the rules of the competition..

 

In fact in contrast to your nasty (but enlightening) little post i would suggest KR deserve a fair bit of credit all round, managing to upgrade the stadium to a very nice RL ground, get a very decent Academy set up running from nothing since 07 and achieving a substantial reduction in reliance in overseas players all while getting a competitive side on the park on on an unlevel playing field ..(this season will be 5 top 8's from 7 i believe)... in fact they are without doubt the ideal inspiration for any promoted club to follow..

 

Sometimes , no matter who it is, credit is due..

 

Very good post and as a (nominal) HKR fan who has nonetheless bailed on the Super League competition not through fault of theirs but of the heartbreak of a return to P&R and thus entrenching of the whole master/servant system I sit very squarely in the middle of this debate.

 

Rovers have indeed made a couple of good signings here and have made strides on player development in a system that (as you say) is really designed to make them fail on both fronts. The bigger question for me is how they're affording both and how such a system of recruitment and development is sustainable on 7/8K fans (and how realistic building on this fan base is), especially when TV money is due to be spread thinner. I can't help but think it's all money going into a black hole and that we'll see it repeated at similarly sized clubs such as Widnes, Hudds, Cas, Wakey etc.

 

Whereas goldcoaster's comment is a bit of a pot shot I do agree with him on restructuring issues.

 

All things SL currently point to disagreement and us all being in a bit of a muddle.

 

Good luck to HKR but don't come crying to your fans if all this has not been properly costed.

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Way out GC, your bias showing ever so slightly..

 

Taylor, Cox, Welham all England or Knights squad, Wigan happy to splash £100,00 on Taylor..Saints keen on Beaumont, Mariano just signed a nice deal at Cas, 19 year old Salter just about an ever present in a top 6 team this year..another 8 academy players have made debut this year or last..

 

Seven overseas origin in the 17 yesterday, of these Dobson, Paea,Withers and Mika leaving together with Paterson and O' Hara so with an overseas half back looking favourite this would be 6 out 3 in.. a good net reduction..and like all SL clubs HKR will be fully compliant with the rules of the competition..

 

In fact in contrast to your nasty (but enlightening) little post i would suggest KR deserve a fair bit of credit all round, managing to upgrade the stadium to a very nice RL ground, get a very decent Academy set up running from nothing since 07 and achieving a substantial reduction in reliance in overseas players all while getting a competitive side on the park on on an unlevel playing field ..(this season will be 5 top 8's from 7 i believe)... in fact they are without doubt the ideal inspiration for any promoted club to follow..

 

Sometimes , no matter who it is, credit is due..

 

This!

 

Very good post and as a (nominal) HKR fan who has nonetheless bailed on the Super League competition not through fault of theirs but of the heartbreak of a return to P&R and thus entrenching of the whole master/servant system I sit very squarely in the middle of this debate.

 

Oh, cry me a river!

 

 

Rovers are doing fine given the circumstances...

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Rovers are doing fine given the circumstances...

 

I have never disputed this. They are doing better than fine, in fact, given their stature and the issues they face, along with the rest of the SL non-elite.

 

What I do question is if the club has a viable future. 

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Great. Another Australian at Hull KR. They just got Weyman and are in the market for an Aussie halfback too.

 

Been in SL since 2007, and still haven't developed one decent player of their own, and still rely on more than 50% of the team being Aussies.

You are as predictable as several trips to the loo after a few beers and a dodgy curry. ( And about as fun) Your anti Rovers bias is beyond a joke, in a previous life on here as EBDU, you used to mouth off about all sorts including Darren Lockyer and Wayne Bennett being past it, they both then won the 2006 grand final (Bennett then helped win a world cup and another NRL Grand Final) and Lockyer helped Qld win 6 Orgin series on the bounce before retiring.

 

As you had been called out, you disappeared for a while then resurfaced as Goldcoaster and have been pushing your Hull FC team at every turn while bad mouthing everything Hull KR do. You are a joke and a waste of a skin.

 

I will no longer fall into your trap after this post as I will no longer rise to your bait.

 

As others have noted we are losing a few of our existing "2nd rate" Aussies (one of which is going to your team lol!) Dobson, Patterson (back to the NRL) Paea (FC) O Hara and Lincoln Withers possibly retiring as well as the supposed departure of Con Mika as well, that would make 6 out and so far 2 in, maybe another one which means we would have a net reduction of 3 overseas players in our squad!

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I hadn't thought about it, but I must say reading the replies makes me appreciate how far HKR have gone. One thing I'd say about them is that they seem to be able to attract players you'd pay good money to watch, which is a tremendous credit to them.

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I hadn't thought about it, but I must say reading the replies makes me appreciate how far HKR have gone. One thing I'd say about them is that they seem to be able to attract players you'd pay good money to watch, which is a tremendous credit to them.

 

But with a building debt and a soon-to-be-departing benefactor, how do they sustain that long-term? I don't see any way that HKR - like so many SL teams - do anything other than spend money they don't have to build a few roughly competitive teams before passing the buckets around the stands every 5 years or so and plunging the sport into disrepair and chaos.

 

What are the new changes doing to address the issues of funding for sides like HKR? Am I fundamentally missing something here?

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But with a building debt and a soon-to-be-departing benefactor, how do they sustain that long-term? I don't see any way that HKR - like so many SL teams - do anything other than spend money they don't have to build a few roughly competitive teams before passing the buckets around the stands every 5 years or so and plunging the sport into disrepair and chaos.

 

What are the new changes doing to address the issues of funding for sides like HKR? Am I fundamentally missing something here?

 

Who's leaving?

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Spot on all the RFL with Wood and Co are doing is rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic.

To be honest, mate, I'm beginning to wonder whether they're actually the iceberg.

"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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Hudgell hasn't ever said he is leaving, just that he couldn't continue to sustain his financial investment at the level he is/was doing. I believe there has been recent investment to some degree given we're signing the type of player we have done, and that we are going to be spending to the cap limit next year. I don't believe he could ever fully walk away if there wasn't anyone financially able enough to take the club on.

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My understanding was that Hudgell has begrudgingly agreed to stay on for 1 more year. So as far as I see it, it's just a brief extension before he withdraws his funding.

 

And then what for HKR?

Neil Hudgell will stand down when and only when there is someone equally capable of taking over. He has stated this over and again and that he will not do anything that is not in the best interests of the club.

 

The thing with Neil is that he is a fan who became chairman not a chairman who became a fan like Pearson & Koukash and I mean that as no criticism of those two. But unlike them he can never walk away it's a lifelong passion, a part of him, so he is never ever just going to leave the club in the lurch. That's why he sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve but there is no doubt his outburst earlier this season was a calculated attempt to attract new investment. He & fellow investor Rob Crossland had concluded that the decade of year on year growth they have presided over had levelled off and they couldn't take the club further on their own.

 

New investors are now on board and the financing of the club for 2014 and beyond now secure. The new investors wanted Neil Hudgell to stay on as chairman and Rob Crossland as vice chairman, and with the financial burden now shared 4 ways Neil & Rob were delighted to agree. Discussions continue over historical debt (the debts secured by Hudgell & Crossland) but Neil says they are getting close on that too. Negotiations are still ongoing with other potential investors which may or may not come to fruition.

 

The golf stand at the north end of our ground was often derided but at least it was a half decent facility with a view not needing binoculors. This year it has been a building site pending the opening of our new £8m North Stand. It 'should' have been open for the start of this season thus increasing the capacity of MS3CP significantly but instead ....the capacity was decreased.

 

If you were NH or RC putting the fruits of everything you have ever achieved in your whole life into Hull Kingston Rovers that would be deflating and others don't give a fig about Hull KR and why should you but us Rovers fans really, really do. There's no way we're ever going to go away.

 

There's about 8,000 people for whom Hull Kingston Rovers is the most important thing in their lives. Another 150,000 who say 'Rovers' when asked 'Rovers or Hull?'

 

This magnificent city of Kings Town Upon Hull...obviously with 2 wonderful Rugby League clubs one has to be inferior and IMO it happens to be the club recently known as Hull FC but formerly Hull Sharks and before that HUll RLFC.

 

But would I want this barcoded set of underachievers to disappeasr off the face of the Rugby League planet? Too right I WOULD.

 

As they would us.

 

Rugby League in its biggest stronghold ...Kings Town Upon Hull.

I

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There's about 8,000 people for whom Hull Kingston Rovers is the most important thing in their lives. Another 150,000 who say 'Rovers' when asked 'Rovers or Hull?'

 

This magnificent city of Kings Town Upon Hull...obviously with 2 wonderful Rugby League clubs one has to be inferior and IMO it happens to be the club recently known as Hull FC but formerly Hull Sharks and before that HUll RLFC.

 

But would I want this barcoded set of underachievers to disappeasr off the face of the Rugby League planet? Too right I WOULD.

 

As they would us.

 

That's an awful lot of people you appear to be speaking for there, and I think your rather sweeping generalisation is inaccurate.

 

If your 8,000 people really think HKR are the most important thing in their lives, why did they only reappear when Rovers were in Super League? 6.5k seem to find summat else more important when Rovers were in the National League.

 

And I also think you're incorrect in your last line that I quoted. Certainly, there are lots of Hull and Rovers' fans that would like to see the other side disappear, but I bet there are as many who enjoy the rivalry and would wish it to continue.

 

Ironically, it was a similar view to yours that was held by fomer Rovers Chairman Barry Lilley, who actually attempted to assist Hull FC to extinction. This of course led to the infamous merger and ensured Hull FC's security in SL and probably a legion of new young fans who wanted to see SL who may well have otherwise gone to watch Rovers. How he must now regret his actions at that time.

 

So I guess you should be careful what you wish for.

 

As for me, well I certainly have a dislike for Hull KR, but it's not as bitter as some and when I meet people like Adam (HKRAwayDays), I get encouraged by his passion for RL in general as well as his club and, although we have a bit of banter, it's all in good humour.

 

I also can't help but wonder, if Neil Hudgell had a bit less of a hatred for Hull FC (as he's openly admitted to having), would Rovers maybe on a more stable footing than they are at present. I know that may sound daft with all the money he's put in but if he'd perhaps started to develop more local youngsters for SL 5/6 years ago rather than buying in overseas players to fill the majority of his team, maybe the wage bill that seems to have been crippling the club might have been a bit more manageable.

 

All in all, I think it's admirable to have a passion for your club but when both Hull and Rovers fans express such bitter hatred towards each other as some do, then I think it's energies wasted.

With Halloween coming up I decided to go to my local fancy dress shop to see if I could get a Dracula costume. After a few minutes the assistant handed me a Hull KR shirt asking "Is this suitable?", I replied "I think you may have misheard me, I said I wanted to look like a count."
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It's only my opinion but to me Neils "hatred" of Hull only ever gets a mention when Hull fans want to vent their upset that Rovers are stealing their limelight. How they must long for a Chairman / Owner that is actually a true supporter of the club.

I love the fact that we have local rivals whether or not we are the top team. In over 50 years of support ing Rovers we have had many years as the junior side in Hull but that makes the good years all the better.

I am proud to support the club when we lose and just as proud when we win. You cannot 'beat the feeling of winning at Wembley, of winning the league in the early 80s or of that day in Warrington when we qualified to join the Super League. None of which Hull have managed.

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Steve, I only mentioned Hudgell's feelings against Hull FC because it was relevant to Dimmest Star's post.

 

And, again it's only my opinion, but the financial troubles at Hull KR are because your chairman has run Rovers as a fan rather than as a businessman.

 

And I agree, you cannot beat the feeling of winning the league in the early 80's. "None of which Hull have managed"? :huh: 

 

I think you should check your record books.

With Halloween coming up I decided to go to my local fancy dress shop to see if I could get a Dracula costume. After a few minutes the assistant handed me a Hull KR shirt asking "Is this suitable?", I replied "I think you may have misheard me, I said I wanted to look like a count."
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Know I overstretched there, Hull did manage a League win but needed a bit of cover for slipping in my personal moment, sitting in the stand to the left of Roger Millard when he raised the Cup at Wembley. Perhaps you will feel this warm glow this year!

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Neil Hudgell will stand down when and only when there is someone equally capable of taking over. He has stated this over and again and that he will not do anything that is not in the best interests of the club.

 

The thing with Neil is that he is a fan who became chairman not a chairman who became a fan like Pearson & Koukash and I mean that as no criticism of those two. But unlike them he can never walk away it's a lifelong passion, a part of him, so he is never ever just going to leave the club in the lurch. That's why he sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve but there is no doubt his outburst earlier this season was a calculated attempt to attract new investment. He & fellow investor Rob Crossland had concluded that the decade of year on year growth they have presided over had levelled off and they couldn't take the club further on their own.

 

New investors are now on board and the financing of the club for 2014 and beyond now secure. The new investors wanted Neil Hudgell to stay on as chairman and Rob Crossland as vice chairman, and with the financial burden now shared 4 ways Neil & Rob were delighted to agree. Discussions continue over historical debt (the debts secured by Hudgell & Crossland) but Neil says they are getting close on that too. Negotiations are still ongoing with other potential investors which may or may not come to fruition.

 

The golf stand at the north end of our ground was often derided but at least it was a half decent facility with a view not needing binoculors. This year it has been a building site pending the opening of our new £8m North Stand. It 'should' have been open for the start of this season thus increasing the capacity of MS3CP significantly but instead ....the capacity was decreased.

 

If you were NH or RC putting the fruits of everything you have ever achieved in your whole life into Hull Kingston Rovers that would be deflating and others don't give a fig about Hull KR and why should you but us Rovers fans really, really do. There's no way we're ever going to go away.

 

There's about 8,000 people for whom Hull Kingston Rovers is the most important thing in their lives. Another 150,000 who say 'Rovers' when asked 'Rovers or Hull?'

 

This magnificent city of Kings Town Upon Hull...obviously with 2 wonderful Rugby League clubs one has to be inferior and IMO it happens to be the club recently known as Hull FC but formerly Hull Sharks and before that HUll RLFC.

 

But would I want this barcoded set of underachievers to disappeasr off the face of the Rugby League planet? Too right I WOULD.

 

As they would us.

 

Rugby League in its biggest stronghold ...Kings Town Upon Hull.

I

 

Very good post but if all of this is true why hasn't Hudgell (along with the likes of Davy, O'Connor & Hughes) been campaigning for a franchised league (or at the very least a continuation of licensing) to secure and maximise his investment? The recent meetings would have been the perfect platform. This is the biggest disappointment for me. The turkeys seem to have voted for Christmas.

 

Essentially all of their good work has been undone by the dreaded return of P&R, which threatens those 4 clubs much more than those above them they're (forlornly) trying to catch up with and those below who are used to cutting their cloth according to it anyway.

 

And don't forget I'm a formerly passionate Rovers fan who has bailed due purely to hatred of the mooted structure. Am I alone? Who knows? But it's these middling clubs making great strides to push on both on and off the field that have most to lose with the reintroduction of uncertainty around their income streams. Basically, I don't think you can count on 8K fans as Rovers inevitably hover not too far from the drop zone in the next few years. A lot of those fans I'm sure - like me - came back into the fold due to the new dawn of licensing and the leveling of the playing field it promised and which the RFL then cowardly and incompetently took from us.

Edited by DeadShotKeen
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In fact in contrast to your nasty (but enlightening) little post i would suggest KR deserve a fair bit of credit all round, managing to upgrade the stadium to a very nice RL ground, get a very decent Academy set up running from nothing since 07 and achieving a substantial reduction in reliance in overseas players all while getting a competitive side on the park on on an unlevel playing field ..(this season will be 5 top 8's from 7 i believe)... in fact they are without doubt the ideal inspiration for any promoted club to follow..

The RFL's assessors didn't see it that way. Hull KR's Academy was one of the four who received the lowest rating of 'weak' in the 2013 accreditation.

 

In case you missed it, here's a link to the document that Derwent posted in the relevant thread http://media.therfl.co.uk/docs/Academy%20Accreditation%202013.pdf

"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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