Chris71:

As JTP says a home draw is the bonus. Looking at the teams don’t honestly see any team that we should fear. Head says KR are the obvious ones we want to avoid so no doubt in saying we’ll likely draw them away 

BP1:



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?   

Ruthless Rufus:

I may well be in a minority her but I love a 'Derby' those Easter games against Dewsbury, Rochdale, Keighley etc. back in the mid-90's onwards (with 1997 the exception) certainly made me realise what we were missing...  


I'm fortunate to have many close friends who are as passionate about the B&W's as I am about Rovers and we take every opportunity to make a day of these occasions (win or lose!) and April 2025 will be no different...


Little doubt the game will be on the BBC - A fantastic opportunity for some genuine banter and good humour to come to the fore and a chance to project a positive picture of the city on a national stage.....BRING IT ON!!!!


RRTR         

Jake the Peg:

I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself.  We had a good win in france but they've been rubbish so far without tomkins, lost heavily to wigan, scraped past an abject hudds (who were the better team on the night and haven't won a game yet this year), were better against leigh and should have won it, then came back from a large deficit against wigan - had field stayed on I suspect we'd have lost comfortably.  


I do think we'll be competitive, particularly if we can keep everyone fit between now and then, but I still have rovers down as strong favourites, probably 75% they'll win, 25% we can snatch it.  They play the type of fast game we struggle against and outside backs and 2nd rowers are strong.  Realistically we'd need them to be off their best and us at ours for us to win it