John Cartwright on Jake Arthur, John Asiata, and Hull FC’s ‘extra courageous’ win.
18:09, 22 Mar 2026Updated 18:11, 22 Mar 2026
Hull FC celebrate Ligi Sao’s try.
John Cartwright has praised Jake Arthur and John Asiata for leading Hull FC to a ‘courageous’ victory over Leeds Rhinos.
Scoring the game’s first try, the 23-year-old got the ball rolling and played the senior half-back role to effect in the absence of Aidan Sezer, who dropped out with a pec injury picked up in training earlier this week.
Shaping up well, kicking strong, and defending to effect, it was Arthur’s best performance for Hull to date – with the Aussie starring alongside Asiata, who played for 75 minutes and was nothing short of immense in his fourth game back from injury.
But after a tough start to the season, which saw the Black and Whites fail to click in four successive defeats, it was Arthur whom Cartwright led the praises for post-match.
“I thought he was great today,” the head coach told Hull Live. “He kicked well, defended well, and really took the responsibility on.
“Just his composure in some really tight situations – he was always settling his players down, and he stuck to his plan really well. He finished the game strong too.
“That’s why we brought him to the club. You need depth in key areas and while Jake has been playing a second seat to Aidan, today he had the job of running the team.
“He’s done it before in the NRL, and his form has been as good as can be expected in the lead-up to the game. We just haven’t built any pressure and today, on the back of very few errors, he was able to get himself in the game.
“He understands the game and imposes himself on the game well. When everyone around him can keep doing their job, Jake will keep doing that for us.
“Amir (Bourouh) also did an unbelievable job to play 80 minutes in the field against a side like that. I felt sorry for Kempy (Callum Kemp, who didn’t get on from the interchange); it’s just hard to replace him.
“He’s basically there in case something happens. When the game is flowing, you don’t want to take your key men out, but Amir soldiered on. It was a tight game, and Callum understands – we spoke to him after the game but I did feel for him.”
And on Asiata, Cartwright continued: “I’m just happy that he is injury-free. He came through that game well. So much of our game hinges on Johnny in tight situations. He just helped his composure. He knows what works for him and he sticks to it. The players around him then respond.”
Hull – who completed well throughout the game – had an even keen of possession in the first half, racing into a 14-2 lead after tries from Arthur and Ligi Sao. Leeds responded through James McDonnell and Brodie Croft to lead 16-14 at half-time, but after Zak Hardaker edged Hull back ahead with a couple of penalty goals, Davy Litten sealed the win with Hull’s third try – and that was that.
“We were very courageous, which you have to be to win any game in Super League,” Cartwright said. “That one probably had a little bit more in it because of the quality of the opposition, how dangerous they are, and how much ball and momentum they got. It was more courageous than what you normally have to be.
“We just haven’t been holding onto the ball constantly long enough to score points. You don’t just get the ball and score tries. You’ve got to build pressure and we haven’t been able to do that. I’m not sure what our overall completion rate was at full-time, but at half-time we were over 90%. If we do that, we’ll score points. It’s good for our confidence to know we can score points, but you don’t just score them – you’ve got to build, build, and build to get them.”
Outlining the side’s stance throughout a tough period, Cartwright added: “Nobody has hit the panic button. I’m aware that people were panicking, but within our room, no-one has been panicking.
“Regardless of the result today, we know we’ve got troops coming back and we had full faith in the guys who were out there today. If you look at the comp, everyone is beating everyone. It’s a tough competition. There’s no-one within our group panicking.”