It’s a big day for Hull FC – who need a result at Bradford this afternoon.
Hull FC celebrate their win at Castleford.
Andy Last has challenged his Hull FC side to ‘play like Tarzan’ at Bradford Bulls this Sunday afternoon.
Looking to move on from a disappointing defeat to Toulouse last time out, the Black and Whites have knuckled down this week ahead of the trip to Odsal.
Doing all they can to prepare in the right way, they reviewed the Toulouse game last week before a few days off and recharge last weekend. They returned to work on Monday and, despite another injury setback to James Bell, have cracked on accordingly.
But now comes the acid test: transferring the work on the training field to game day. Hull failed to do that against Toulouse, with a firm response now targeted in West Yorkshire.
And Last, taking charge of his third game in his interim spell, is confident his side can do just that. He said: “The players have trained with a great intensity, but I think the marks of a good team is transferring what you’ve done on the training field into performance.
“At the end of the day, you can have a good week’s practice, but it doesn’t guarantee you a good performance at the weekend. And that was disappointing because we had a good week’s practice, but the final part of it, which is the most important part, is the 80 minutes, and we didn’t get that right.
“There are some guys who maybe don’t train very well; you know, the old train like Jane and then play like Tarzan, but we need to train well and play well. We need a much improved performance against Bradford. We have to play well.”
Hull will go into the clash with ten out on the injured list, whereas Bradford have welcomed back five players into contention. Nonetheless, Last is still confident of victory.
“Bradford have got some bodies back, and they play a real expansive brand of rugby,” Last continued. “Kurt Haggerty has got them playing well, and they’re a challenging team.
“We saw that round one, so we’re not taking them lightly. We’ve done our homework, we’ve had a real good look at them, and we feel like we’ve got a plan that can challenge them.
“We need to be bang at it on Sunday, and I’m very confident, very, very confident we will be. I get myself into a headspace where it doesn’t matter who we are playing against; when it comes to the start of the game, I’m always confident of winning.
“I think that’s really important as a coach, you’ve got to have that belief and you’ve got to have that confidence that your team can get the job done. I certainly believe the team can get the job done on Sunday.”