John Cartwright aired his immediate reaction as Hull FC’s season was ende don Thursday night.
John Cartwright has stated he was always confident of his Hull FC side ‘playing finals footy.’ However, the head coach conceded that injuries ultimately got the better of them.
That’s not an excuse, but reality, and something Cartwright has already put on record with the club set to conduct a post-season review as they look to maximise sports science off the field, preparation and the like.
But the numbers don’t lie, with Hull missing several key players – including the likes of Herman Ese’ese, Will Pryce, John Asiata, Liam Knight, Jed Cartwright and co. – in their season finale against Catalans Dragons, with the French side running out 26-22 winners to end Hull’s year and confirm Wakefield Trinity as Super League’s sixth and final play-off team.
Fighting until the very end, Cartwright also aired his pride at the players who came in, particularly some young emerging stars, and with what’s coming to the club, the Hull coach is already buoyed for next season.
Speaking post-match, he said: “As the season unfolded, I was confident of playing finals footy and I was confident of making a dent in the finals, to be honest with you. We basically lost some really key players – I don’t want to harp on about it, but that’s the reality – we lost key players.
“We’ve lost eight or nine regular first-team players but the guys who came in, they did a fantastic job for us – they kept us alive and kept us going right up until the last game.
“I’m really excited with what I’ve seen this year and what we’re bringing to the club – and the younger guys who have got experience they didn’t expect, they’ve handled it, and I think they’re ready to go to another level.”
Keeping the season alive until the final round, Cartwright’s side battled and battled. They defeated Leigh Leopards last month and looked destined for a big push. However, losses to Pryce and Asiata, among others, derailed that push – amid one or two results that stick in the teeth.
“We had a really good win against Leigh but we lost Will and John,” Cartwright explained. “They were really starting to work each other out and we lost them twice – we lost them earlier in the year for ten weeks and then we lost them again. That was a big moment. We had to really struggle away and battle for wins after that point – sometimes that just wears you down.
“I’ve got no doubt there will be a game here and there, but the Huddersfield one at the Magic Round was a game we really should have won. We had a man advantage for one minute, and then all of a sudden they had a man advantage on the back of our discipline. One thing you can control is your discipline and we were off that day.
“But I’m sure every side in the top six has got one or two games they lost that they thought they should have won, in particular against us – we were able to come away with some good results against sides that were fancied.”
And despite the disappointment of the final round, Cartwright aired his satisfaction with the year as a whole – his first season of an original three-year contract at the Black and Whites.
“I’ve absolutely loved it,” he said. “I said to the players, ‘When you’re involved in a rugby league club, you’ve got to handle the down times as much as you do the good times.’
“The good times are easy to handle; the down times are when you’ve got to work harder, find answers, keep the faith and enjoy. The bottom line is whatever you do in life, if you’re not enjoying it, you’re not going to be very good at it. You’ve got to enjoy when you’re getting kicked and punched, and you’ve got to enjoy when you walk off and get a victory.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and everything about it. There’s not a day that I’d trade. We don’t kick stones; we’ll always find a positive, and it’s down to the coaches and the staff and the players. It’s a really good place to work.”
And on the support he’s received from the club and the fans, Cartwright added: “It’s nice and it’s a feel-good thing. I genuinely want the club to do well for the work that’s put in for Andrew (Thirkill), Richie (Myler), and David (Hood), in particular.
“The crowd, just for our boys, to give them something to cheer about – that’s what drives me, more than anything, to reward the hard work the owners have put in, but the club wouldn’t survive at all without our fans, and Thursday night, at 8 o’clock, another 10,000 were there. You’ve got to admire those people.”