John Cartwright put a sloppy account with the ball down as the catalyst for Hull FC’s 24-10 defeat at Warrington Wolves on Saturday evening—with the head coach conceding that he doesn’t have an answer to why his side keeps producing error-strewn performances.
The Black and Whites completed at just over 50%, one of their worst returns this year, and that paved the way for their seventh league defeat of the season. In turn, Warrington built the ascendancy on the back of those errors, with the home side being good value and undoubtedly deserving winners.
Keeping their own play-off chase alive, the Wire were comfortably the better team, pulling away at the start of each half. Hull fought back before half-time and certainly made a fist of it at the break, but they couldn’t do so again in the second half.
For Cartwright, there are still answers to be found, with his side making too many errors, even if their effort and resilience are not in doubt, absorbing countless pressure in the second half. Speaking to Hull Live post-match, he said: “There were just too many errors—and especially errors coming out of our end. We gave them too many opportunities, and then the scoreboard got away from us—especially in the second half.
“We fought really hard during different patches to try and get back in the game, but every time we got the ball, we just turned it over. It’s pretty simple, really, at the end of the day. It was just one of those nights—I don’t know why.
“As a coach, you search for the answer, but it’s an answer that no coach in the history of the game has got an answer for. You can have a beautiful day like today, great conditions that are perfect for rugby league, and we completed just over 50% of our sets. I wish I had an answer for that, but I don’t.”
He continued: “It’s been going on since 1908. There’s no real answer, I don’t think. I suppose, at the end of the day, it’s having players who don’t make errors. That’s what makes the good players really good.”
After going down 12-0, Hull fought back to 12-10 at half-time, with Aidan Sezer at the heart of it. On that spell, Cartwright said: “There was a ten-minute block of footy where we were really good, but you don’t win playing for ten minutes—the game goes for eighty.
“We’ve been doing that all year, but for bigger blokes. Today, it was a really important game, and we turned up with a really poor performance. It was really disappointing.
“It’s got nothing to do with preparation, and their attitude is great. We defended down there for nearly 30 tackles on our try line without having it crossed.
“In the modern game, that is really tough to do—the average is about ten or eleven tackles down there. They work really hard for each other, and they save tries together, but we want to be a team that is competing every week, and you just can’t make errors like we did. Defensively, we proved we can do it, but we’ve got to be smarter with the ball.”
Despite the defeat, Hull still have their destiny in their own hands, but they need to be more consistent in their completion, giving themselves a better chance to put blocks of results together.
“It’s still early on, and I’m not looking at where we sit,” Cartwright explained. “It’s about putting in a good performance. If you put in good performances, you win games, and everything else takes care of itself.”
Cartwright also confirmed no injuries came from the loss. “I don’t think anyone came off injured,” he added. “We’ve got bumps and bruises as usual, but I think we’re okay.”