Hull know they must improve to get two valuable Super League points.
10:00, 04 Mar 2026Updated 13:09, 04 Mar 2026
Hull FC star Zak Hardaker.(Image: SW PIX)
John Cartwright is keeping his counsel despite Hull FC’s indifferent start to the Super League season that saw them humbled at home by competition newcomers York Knights last Friday night.
The Black and Whites head coach is aware there is a need for improvement from his side – who have struggled to get an ascendancy in their three Super League games so far – but he also knows it’s early days with plenty of time to set the record straight.
Heading to West Yorkshire to take on Wakefield Trinity in Super League round four this Thursday night, Cartwright is now challenging Hull to nail down the tough elements of the game, especially in terms of carrying the ball strong, finishing their sets on their terms, and then kicking and chasing well to gain both a foothold and a grip on the contest.
Looking jaded so far, Hull know that if they fulfil those components, then things will come easier to them, with Cartwright cutting a relaxed figure in his pre-match press conference.
“It’s round three,” he said. “No one likes losing, but when all things are considered, it’s round three. Yes, we’ve got to change things around to get results and it’s not going to be pretty for it to happen. It’s that time of the year; it’s wet, it’s greasy, and it’s a hard slog. We’ve just got to get tough with it.
“There are no excuses. We had a game that I thought we should have won at the weekend and in hindsight I don’t change that view either. But we made way too many errors and we gifted too much field position, and in those conditions, it was nearly impossible but we kept trying.
“I thought when we got Johnny (Asiata) out there things came a little bit easier for us but we’ve got no excuses for not winning at the weekend. We need to improve.”
Looking to get back on track, the challenge for Hull now is to put a performance in that sits right with their standards and turn words into action.
“It starts with us,” Cartwright continued. “We need to put in a performance that we can be happy with and confident with that will take us forward. Again, no-one likes to lose and we don’t go out to lose on purpose. Like anything in life, we’ve got to work hard, believe, and turn up this week and try to get the job done.
“Last week, there were a lot of errors and we put ourselves under way too much pressure and then we couldn’t build enough pressure to score points in those conditions. I thought we squandered a couple of opportunities and then after half-time we lost Harvey (Barron) and Jed (Cartwright) and we had no Aidan (Sezer) and we fell behind through our own errors and a sin binning. It was like a perfect storm against us but a lot of it was our own doing.
“It’s all about getting better now and we’ve got a lot to improve on. It’s pretty simple. The York game was similar to the Bradford game; we weren’t at our best. Not many teams are aside from Wigan, so we had to graft our way to win.
“We grafted against Bradford and we had a bit of brilliance from Will Pryce and we won the game. If we had done that against York, we would have got the same result, and we’d be having different conversations now. But we didn’t do it. We’ve just got to get back to that mentality.”
Cartwright is also paying no attention to Wakefield’s start, with Daryl Powell’s side also one from three, losing to Toulouse Olympique and Warrington Wolves and edging past Huddersfield Giants.
“Like us, they probably thought they would be in a better position than what they are, but I’ve said it right from the start, the early season games are always dangerous no matter who you play,” Cartwright added. “There’s a lot of belief in teams who have had good pre-season’s and who have made a few acquisitions. They’ll be no different from us. It’ll be a good battle.”