Andy Last did not hold back on Hull FC’s shortcomings.
Hull FC captain Aidan Sezer celebrates his try with Logan Moy. (Image: Dave Lofthouse, Hull FC)
Andy Last has admitted he was ‘disgusted’ with 60 minutes of Hull FC’s performance at York Knights, with the interim head coach pulling no punches after his side’s 20-16 defeat at the LNER Community Stadium on Thursday night.
The Black and Whites had a pathetic second-half display to rue in North Yorkshire. They led 16-8 at half-time, having turned around a poor start with three first-half tries.
However, they were kept try-less after the break, with York posting 12 unanswered points to complete a Super League double over Hull – who were confined to a 13th defeat of the season, with attitudes questioned again after poor discipline and a lack of quality paved the way for another poor result.
“I won’t be sleeping much tonight,” Last said after the game. “There’s a lot to ponder and a lot to think about. I’m disgusted, really, with 60 minutes of that performance.
“The first 20 minutes, we didn’t get out of the blocks, which is an indicator of attitude, and then we got to grips with the contest, and in the second 20 minutes, we were a lot better. We were winning at half-time and then I spoke about the importance of the next 20 and setting the tone for that second half. We didn’t get that right.
“Our discipline is killing us. We had seven penalties coming out of yardage against us. You just don’t give yourself any opportunity to build any sort of pressure in terms of position (with those numbers), and it was just so easy for York to get up the field – they just waited for us to give away a cheap penalty, and then they kicked it 40/50 metres and then we’re on our own try line again. And it was the case again and again, despite review talking about discipline, so, yeah, I’m bitterly disappointed and frustrated.”
On the penalties against his side, Last continued: “I can’t get the consistency on what we’re actually doing wrong. I’m frustrated with the penalties but we’ve got to own that; we can’t be ill-disciplined – we’ve got to be squeaky clean.
“And if that means allowing players to play the ball a little bit quicker and you lose a couple of metres, then so be it. But yeah, I’m frustrated and disappointed because we’d spoken all week about fixing up that discipline. And we didn’t do it tonight.”
Ultimately, Hull must look to their own borders as they address their slump in form, which has seen eight defeats from their last nine games and seen them drop to 11th place in the Super League table.
Asked if it was a dumb display, Last said: “Definitely. It’s the same players making the same errors, which is a frustration; putting people in some positions and they’re just not quite nailing the right pass.
“Our last play options were poor – we had an opportunity with 15 minutes to go, but we just didn’t come up with enough quality when we had a little bit of field position. And last tackle plays again were just not where we needed them to be.”
But despite all Hull’s flaws, they could have won – and had a chance to do so in the last minute with Herman Ese’ese seeing his try ruled out for double movement.
“That’s been the case for numerous games over the course of the season,” Last said. “We’ve been very close. But just not quite enough to get our noses in front and get across the line, so we’ll have a good look at it on tape and point out some things again and explain some things to some individuals and hope that we are better next week.”
Ultimately, it’s all about attitude. Last added: “We spoke about that all week. We did the interview on Wednesday and spoke about attitude. You can stress the point about attitude and the importance of delivering on performance and getting the basics right and not taking York lightly. But as a team, individually and collectively, we’re just failing to hit the max on a regular basis.
“For me, those are question marks of some of the individuals within the team and I’ve got to own that. I’m the one who selects the team and puts practice together and gets the messaging across. They’re not hearing it so I’ve got to have a good look at myself and reflect and make sure that we’re better next week.”