The Hull FC winger on being dropped, his injury, mentality, game targets, and drive.
Hull FC winger Lewis Martin.
The old adage is that you learn more about yourself through adversity. Hull FC winger Lewis Martin would tend to agree.
The reigning Super League Dream Team winger, who scored 32 tries in 30 games last season, hasn’t had everything his own way again this year, fighting his way through some tougher times, but it’s been the sort of character-building that’s made him grow in a different way.
Suffering a first injury of his senior career, Martin was also left out of the first-team side upon his return, instead playing for the reserves, but he didn’t let the setbacks get to him. Instead, it was all about working hard to force his way back in, with the winger, who only turned 21 on Thursday, showing an attitude and wisdom beyond his youthful years.
“You just have to deal with it; you can’t sit and sulk because you get nothing out of just sulking,” Martin told Hull Live. “I went into the reserves and I knew that I had to stand out and be the best player on that pitch.
“But yeah, you’ve just got to keep powering through. Rugby league isn’t plain sailing. There are going to be bumps in the road; you’re not just going to be on an upward trajectory all of the time, and you’ve got to deal with it.
“It was my first experience of not being in the team and dropping out for a few weeks. I had that ankle injury and I didn’t play for nearly two months, but having that experience of not getting picked, I know what it feels like now and I don’t want to be there again.
“It’s probably given me a bit of a kick up the backside and told me not to get complacent. I need to keep going. I’ve got to keep my performances high and as Lasty says, consistency is a sign of a good player. Hopefully now I can keep my spot for the rest of the year.”
Martin has had a rapid rise in the Hull team after debuting in the final game of 2023. He missed just three games in 2024 and was the 18th man for all of them before playing every minute of every game in 2025.
He’s remained grounded throughout, scoring his 50th try for the club last week, and used his time out wisely to pack on some size to help with his overall game.
“I’ve had two to three years that have been plain sailing with no injuries,” the winger continued. “I didn’t miss a game last year and this was a little bit of adversity for me.
“No one likes to be sat on the sideline and it’s a killer when you’re watching the boys; you just want to help them out and be out there with them. But yeah, that’s part of rugby and injuries are going to come. It was a bit of a learning curve, but I worked hard on keeping myself fit and putting some size on in the gym.
“I put two kilos on, but I still want to be quick. I think it’s a big factor in my game and it’s an important part of my game, but on the flip side, that backfield work is important and winning rucks is massive for the team, especially with how the game’s going with the speed of it. It’s massive.
“I worked hard in the gym for six weeks as I wasn’t running, and I think over the last few weeks, it’s made a difference with my carries.”
Being the complete winger is what Martin desires most. For the Hull-born speedster, the tries are the bonus, and the real satisfaction comes with his yardage carries, getting the team on the front foot, and earning respect from his teammates.
To do that, Martin, along with fellow winger Harvey Barron, set out individual goals of making 20 carries and 150 metres per game.
“We spoke about it in pre-season about what we want to do as wingers for the team,” Martin said. “Obviously stats don’t mean much, but as a baseline, I think 20 carries, 150 metres, goes a long way for the team. We’ll look after the game and if we’re around those numbers, then we should have done pretty well.
“It’s been a big thing for us this year. There was a big focus on drilling it into us that it’s not about scoring tries. Obviously, that’s a nice bit, but I think getting us on the front foot is what we need to do every week and that’s kind of us repaying it to our middles for the defence that they do for us. That’s been our biggest thing to improve this year.”
Naturally after such a rise, Martin, along with Barron, has had targets on his back. It comes with the territory, and it’s seen as nothing but the next challenge.
“We are both more of a name now and teams are putting a bit of a target on us to try and put us in a corner and dominate us out of the backfield,” Martin said. “We’ve got to adapt to that; we can’t just complain about it. It’s probably a good thing. I like a challenge and teams are targeting us, but we’ve got to keep trying to improve our games.
“We’re both still learning and we’re both still young. I’m only just 21, and he’s only 23. We’ve still got a lot of years left. I think there is a lot of learning that we’ve done this year and hopefully we’ll be better players in the future.”
Determined to finish the 2026 season strong, Martin is now targeting a big four games. There’s pride at stake, both individually and as a team, with Hull going up against Catalans in Perpignan this Saturday night.
“This year has been a lot different; it’s probably been the complete opposite end,” Martin added. “I haven’t had the best of form this year, maybe like a couple of glimpses in some games, but yeah, I’ve had to find a way to deal with not playing so great, but I’m also just looking forward to next week to try and build my game back to where I know it should be.
“It’s been a bit of a test but rugby league is a roller coaster and hopefully I can come back up through the other side of it.
“I just want to win. We’re not where we hoped to be and the season hasn’t gone great, but it is what it is, and we’ve just got to pick up as many wins as we can in these last four games. I’ll be looking to do just that.”