John Cartwright believes Lewis Martin’s ‘game awareness’ is getting better and better after his latest hat-trick of tries. The 20-year-old scored his 21st, 22nd, and 23rd tries of the season against Huddersfield Giants on Saturday afternoon, and while they were little consolation in a game the Black and Whites frustratingly lost 30-14, they take nothing away from the speedster, who is having another strong season.
The Hull-born flyer has now scored 23 tries in 23 games this year, with the hat-trick his third of the season and his first in Super League – following on from two in the Challenge Cup against York Acorn and Wigan Warriors earlier this year.
And while Martin’s first and second efforts were sound finishes, his third was a superb effort, first collecting an Aidan Sezer chip kick in his own half before racing away, kicking for Davy Litten, who returned the ball to his winger, who then dotted down in the southeast corner.
And it’s that sort of awareness that has impressed Cartwright, with the winger now playing in 49 of Hull’s 52 games since breaking into the first team at St Helens in the final game of 2023. He has scored 33 tries in that time, 23 of which have come this year, with Martin now just four tries away from setting a new Hull record of tries scored in a Super League season – a record currently held by former winger Tom Lineham (26).
“He’s got raw speed, and his game awareness is getting better all of the time,” Cartwright told Hull Live. “If a few balls had stuck for us, he possibly could have scored four or five, but you can’t coach speed – when he gets into space, he’s hard to stop.
“It’s nice to see (his link with Litten). You want players who can do those types of things, but if you’re not doing the other stuff well, it’s a bit of an empty feeling, I suppose.”
Cartwright also commented on Harvey Barrton’s overturned try, with video referee Chris Kendall going against Tom Grant’s on-field call of a try early in the second half. The winger was judged to have grounded the ball on the line despite replays that favoured both arguments.
“Some angles showed it was in, and there were some angles that showed it was out,” Cartwright said. “You would think they would go with the on-field referee if that was the case, but I suppose all the angles proved the ball was out.”