Rugby Raider:
There’s absolutely no pressure on Hull. At the start of the season we were hoping to finish about 8th and were expected to lose at Wigan in the Cup. Now we look a better team than we expected to be at this stage. Some Rovers fans think they have won the cup already, lose to Hull and it will be devastating for them as this is their best chance to ever win the cup. Also waiting for them a week later will be a refreshed Wigan in the league, followed by Good Friday. They could have a brilliant or nightmare 3 weeks, but that’s is not our worry.
Personally I think we will win one of the Derby’s, but it either way a defeat doesn’t impact our season. I think both games will be close and the atmosphere will be amazing.
It’s still early days, but there’s a similar feel to the late 70’s, early 80’s. Other clubs (except Wigan) are fading and both Hull clubs could find themselves competing for honours or at least finals in the next few seasons.
Strap yourselves in, this could be fun!
Pressure or not this is absolutely massive, make no mistake about that. If this draw had come about twelve months ago I think we all would have shrugged our shoulders and hoped to God that we were not humiliated again on our own patch and in front of the cameras. But a year is a very long time in sport and Hull Fc are a very different beast in 2025 (in case anyone hadn't quite noticed yet). These upcoming derbies, especially the first one, are anything but a foregone conclusion as some still seem to be assuming.
I suspect that both camps are feeling come through this one and the big prize is within reach. It feels already like a Cup final at the quarter stage. Whoever comes out on top will be fired up to go all the way. We have home advantage, we owe them for our dreadful performances in last year's derbies and this competition genuinely feels like a wide open field with Wigan gone. Everyone, apart possibly from Salford, will be fancying their chances of lifting the old tin pot, so why not us? We've started the season well, we look fit, committed, organized, enthusiastic with an excellent team spirit, we've just dumped the tournament favourites out, so why not us?
If there was no pressure on us then I would be sat here feeling as relaxed as can be, but I know for a fact that come kick-off time every one of us in the stadium will be on a knife edge with our stomachs doing flip-flops. It's games like this that remind me of why exactly I love and hate sport in equal measures, high octane derbies especially!!! Dread to watch it, but can't walk away from the spectacle!
This is the biggest derby in 40 years, since the JP final in January '85, arguably the first time since then we've gone head to head with both teams looking like genuine contenders. There is an awful lot at stake here, not just temporary bragging rights, if the winners do subsequently go on to lift the trophy at Wembley in June this quarter-final win will form a significant part of the legend in the years to come.
I have a feeling Cartwright and his team are going to be right up for this. The Challenge Cup is our only realistic chance at turning a season of quiet rebuilding/consolidation (in itself commendable after the horrors of 2024) into a magical year writ large in our storied history. It will also have the added bonus of putting Lassie back in her kennel after all the grief we have copped from the other side these past couple of years. A chance to derail their supposed march to the summit and extend the drought further.
This is not the time for black & whites to meekly lay down and die, it is the time to rise up and face the enemy square in the face and vanquish them on the point of our sword!!!! Make no mistake, this is far from a foregone conclusion, it is a 50/50 call, it go could either way (us or them), the team that are fearless and grab the opportunity with both hands will be the one that marches on to even greater glory.
I'll say it again, Hull Fc Challenge Cup winners 2025, WHY NOT US?
