Hull need to be more physical against York.
Hull FC’s Harvey Barron is tackled.
John Cartwright has pinpointed physicality as a key fix-up for his Hull FC side against York Knights this Friday night – and insists his side are a better team than the performance they dished up at Wigan Warriors last Saturday night.
The Black and Whites host the Super League newcomers – who are one from two after their opening round victory over Hull KR and defeat to Leeds Rhinos – at the MKM Stadium with the head coach knowing the importance of winning the physical and fundamental side of the game first.
Dominated at Wigan last Saturday night, Hull lost the first contact, the floor, and ultimately the game. It was a chain effect, with FC struggling to break the stranglehold put on them and succumbing to a disappointing 34-6 defeat.
Now looking to tighten their game up, Cartwright wants to see those physical departments get back to an even keel, with Hull hitting hard and direct in defence, controlling the tackle more, and then the ruck. The expectation then, with Super League playing this year under new interpretations that have sped the play of the ball up, is they’ll get more field position, more rub of the green, and hopefully a scoreboard ticking in their favour.
Speaking to Hull Live, Cartwright said: “The changes show that if you are dominant with your carries, then you’re going to get rewarded for it, which at the end of the day is what we want to see.
“That’s why the changes were brought in – they want to open the game up a little bit, so it’s very important to work hard and win that play the ball. If you do that, you’re going to get a reward from it. The game is a physical game and if you’re consistent with the physicality side of the game, then things go your way, like penalties and six agains.
“On Saturday, we were just battling to hold on at certain stages of the game and that’s when you give penalties away and you make errors just through their pressure. We’ve got to take a lesson from Wigan and apply pressure to York consistently throughout the 80 minutes and as many times as we can.
“That’s the cornerstone of your game, but across the board, defensively, we need to be stronger and we need to make more of a statement with our defence. We missed a lot of tackles and we lost a lot of first contacts, which is not like us. That’s an area, since I’ve been here, that we’ve worked really hard on and we had massive improvements on it last year. We took a step back on Saturday night.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance. We got beaten in the areas where you’ve got to be strong, around being physical. We didn’t hit that mark. I thought we scrambled well in the second half; it could have gotten really ugly at different stages with the amount of possession that we gave them and how dominant they were. We scrambled well, but it is what it is; it’s how we respond this Friday now.”
Hull will look to make it two wins from three and put the disappointment of Wigan behind them after an opening round victory over Bradford.
“Winning is everything and it can solve a lot of problems,” Cartwright added. “It can hide some problems sometimes as well, but confidence won’t be a problem. I’ve noticed a difference in how we’ve handled a loss compared to some losses last year. It’s really cut deep and the way we lost has really cut deep.
“I’d like to think that if we get put in that situation again, we’d respond better. We’ve spoken about it. Hopefully, it’s a lesson learned, but as in anything, it’s all about the response.
“The players have been honest in their assessment. They came forward in their thinking and were on the same lines as the coaches were. We all saw the same thing, but like I said to them when we left Wigan, everything is in the response now.”