The last time Hull FC won a game was the end of June; with seven defeats in a row, the fans on the west side of Hull are arguably more frustrated than those on the east, despite the Airlie Birds safe in the top eight and Hull KR fighting for their lives in the Qualifiers. Head coach Lee Radford has questioned his players' attitudes in the past and did so again in the aftermath of the 80-10 thrashing by Warrington on Thursday night.
Chairman Adam Pearson has since launched a blasting tirade at his players, stating that those not worthy of a place in the side will be shown the door - regardless of whether or not they have signed a new contract. Plus, the owner has changed his previous policy of refusing to bring in any new recruits for 2019, citing unacceptable performances in the past two months the catalyst for the new recruitment drive. But, just what has gone wrong?
Complacency
After two seasons of silverware, Hull will end 2018 trophyless. Back-to-back Challenge Cup successes have apparently fostered an aura of complacency within the squad, with players settled and assured of their spot in the first-team.
A good shake up is what the Hull team needs and is what chairman Pearson is promising. Too many of the Hull players looked as though they were already on holiday on Thursday night and many look like they have been for months - the Airlie Birds' 72-10 defeat away to Wakefield at the end of July was the lowest point in Lee Radford's tenure, only to be overtaken by Warrington's hammering last week.
Making a mockery of the Super 8s
Some have argued that if Hull had something to play for though, their results would not have been as bad; at the end of the regular season FC were sixth, seven points behind Warrington in fourth. It wasn't impossible for Hull to claw their way back into the reckoning for the end of season play-offs, but it would be very tough going, especially when playmakers Albert Kelly and Marc Sneyd had been injured for some time.
But Hull's quite obvious attitude that they could not make the top four and the dismal set of results they have been involved in has done nothing for advocates of the current play-off system.
Yes, towards the back end of the year some teams are going to fall by the wayside in the run to the Grand Final, but for the likes of Hull, Wakefield, and Catalans, their hunt for a top-four place was already based on very thin hope before the Super 8s commenced. Perhaps a tiered system where first starts on eight points and eighth starts on one point would yield more competitive games, but as the structure currently stands too many fixtures are non-entities.
Though this is true, take for example Castleford in 2016; the Tigers finished sixth on 21 points before the Super 8s split - five points behind Catalans.
At the end of the Super 8s, Castleford were fifth having won five out of their remaining seven games. This is the type of attitude that Pearson and Radford would have been looking for going into 2019; no wonder then that an 80-10 result has left both reeling and both determined to sort out the current mess.