Father Time caught up with Reynolds - FC should have known
NOW PRESSURE ON GALE TO PERFORM
Father Time catches up with everyone, I know that as well as anyone. That’s exactly what happened to Josh Reynolds. The trouble for Hull FC is they should have known that before they signed him and made him a marquee player.
I’m not surprised to see Reynolds leave and it’s not his fault he departs having picked up a huge wage for what has been an unsuccessful spell at the Black and Whites.
He didn’t twist anyone’s arm to get paid what he did, that’s down to the club.
FC have got the majority of their recruitment right. You look at the signings of the past few years and it’s been a pretty good hit rate.
The trouble is you can’t afford to get it wrong when you’re bringing in an overseas player on marquee wages and putting your stick on them being a key part of taking the team forward.
I’m not knocking FC for their recruitment on the whole for reasons outlined above, but you have to question the Reynolds deal and ask if the necessary due diligence was done as this is a player who in his last two years at West Tigers hardly played because of injury.
Reynolds lived the dream. He’s had a career that should bring him great pride, one that the majority would envy having hit the heights in the NRL and won State of Origin representation. It’s just the last four years that have been a disappointment, especially his time at FC.
It has proven to be a costly mistake for Hull given the space on the salary cap he was taking up and the impact they got for that money.
What they need to ensure now is they don’t have a repeat situation with Luke Gale.
The club captain has missed seven games through suspension already this season, and when he’s played he’s not hit the heights that he would have expected, I think it’s fair to say.
Reynolds’ situation and all the focus being around his form has probably deflected some of the attention off Gale, who will now find himself thrust further under the spotlight as the main man in the halves. FC need Gale, and his fellow senior players to come to the fore.
With Jake Connor out, Brett Hodgson’s side need to prove they can consistently score points and that falls on Gale and a number of senior men to stand up and lead the way in the coming weeks, starting at Warrington tomorrow night.
It would be quite typical of Hull to go to an out-of-sorts Warrington team this week and get beat.
They need to make sure that doesn’t happen because the table is getting congested in that middle group fighting for a play-off place, with some of FC’S closest rivals in better form than the Black and Whites.