THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND!
(….and I doubt we’ll ever see the like again)

Jimmy Leuluai’s daughter Folole tweeted, “Dad said he was going out to catch up with his mates” and he was!
(……..and the ‘photo-bombing girl’s’ at the back have to be in as well, don’t they!!)

What a great picture and as we hail what we hope will be our next crop of heroes arriving on these shores from Down Under, I make no excuse for including that amazing image here at the top of this week’s Diary. You see for me, when you sit down and look back at Ah Kuoi, Muggleton, Kemble, O’Hara, Sterling and Leuluai and add to these legends the likes of Ronnie Wileman, Knocker Norton, Steve Evans, Charlie Stone, Paul Prendiville, Trevor Skerrett, Sammy Lloyd, Tony Dean, Kevin Harkin, Dave Topliss, et al, you realise just how lucky those of us who lived through the ‘Glory Days’ from ‘78 to ‘85 were! It was a golden era and although I’m a big believer that you can’t live in the past, it’s a period that will live in the memories of all us Codgers, forever!

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SO WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE LAST WEEK!!!

Well the shirts printed!!

So ends the quietest week so far of the closed season.

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KEEP SMILING, FRANKS COMING!!!!!!!!! (I think!)

After all the hype and then the NZ Warriors stuff last week, I have to now admit to getting both excited and yet a bit ‘twitchy’ about the arrival of our biggest signing for years!!!

At last after what seems like ages since we last played a game, pre-season training is under way and the arrival of the last four pieces of the ‘current’ jigsaw is imminent.

They all have something for us to look forward to but Frank will be a massive signing with, as someone said this week, his most exciting stat an amazing 1073 yards made in the NRL season of 2015…. AFTER contact. I think that Mrs Pritchard is going to get on well with this weekly Diary too, as she seemed to referenced my ‘life coach’ Homer Simpson, when she said on twitter last week, “UK bound in days, Woo Hoo!”

The question is of course exactly when is he jetting in, because Frank says, this week, Mrs P says, in days and the Club are saying in early December, so when is he really coming? Is he arriving early and not being announced so that he can settle in, are the Club planning a big ‘hello’ on his arrival which is under wraps, or have our people simply got their communications muddled up? The latest I can find out is that Sika Manu, Carlos Tuimavave and Mahe Fonua, arrive later this week and start training next week, while Frank the Tank will make his eagerly-anticipated arrival next week and start training the following week.

Let’s just hope that all the confusion over an NRL Club bidding for Frank is over with and he arrives soon!!!! I know we have all been re-assured, but this is Hull FC we are talking about here, and years of experience prove that quite frankly with our lot anything can happen! So, all we can do as fans is share the belief of the owner, put trust in the player’s integrity and hope!!

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Lest we ever forget!

It’s been a quiet old week but today’s the day when once again pre-season training has started and the crazy world of Rugby League, that has some players still playing ‘last season’s’ International series, while others at Clubs across the game report back for the start of preparations for 2016, begins.

Last Friday at Hull FC all the British based players reported for kitting out and to receive we were told, the ground rules for the coming campaign; and so it begins. Sure, in the next few weeks the big news will be the arrival of the imports, but the bread and butter stuff is underway as the players start the grind of training in the wet and the cold, running up hills and pounding the streets while the fans thoughts turn to season tickets, new shirts, the fixture list and how we’ll do in 2017.

Personally, I think that if we can get the right player, then we still need one more signing, but there’s more of that later. However we already have some exciting imports, plus some great young prospects and as always at this time of year, hopes spring eternal and it’s a time for looking forward and believing!! Let’s face it, you don’t lose any games in November and December do you and with the first pre season match now announced for 3rd January at York, I think that we should all enjoy the current hiatus while we can!

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It’s been a week for the young and a week for the old, for welcoming returning heroes and for remembering those heroes that are no more.

This picture certainly says it all really!

The week’s again been an interesting one, with a good night at the City Hall on Thursday, when we celebrated the 150th year of our great Club with the great James Leuluai, Sam Moa, a host of players past and present and the class of 2005, then we watched as the Carney saga dragging on and petered out… (I think), plus there was Adam on the Radio, a new recruit to the backroom staff and a great opener to the International series, with even an England win, at a packed and impressive KC Stadium.

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