The Hull FC vice captain believes the side will get better as the season goes on.
Hull FC loose-forward John Asiata.(Image: SW PIX)
John Asiata has called for some patience following Hull FC’s indifferent start to the season, with the vice captain believing results will improve as team combinations get more fluent.
The Black and Whites have had a disrupted and below-par start to the year, losing full-back Will Pryce to a season-ending ACL blow. That has seen Davy Litten step into the role, with a new half-back combination in Aidan Sezer and Jake Arthur, who both spent time on the treatment table this pre-season, unfolding.
And Asiata, who is set for his third game back from injury away at Leigh Leopards this Saturday afternoon, is insistent those combinations will improve with time and is backing Hull, and in particular Arthur, to click this year.
“We’re still working on it,” Asiata, speaking pre-match, said. “You look at our pre-season; Jake had a little bit of time out with his hamstring, Seze was coming off the back of his shoulder, and I was coming back off my hamstring as well.
“The reps you would normally get in the pre-season, we didn’t get enough of. And you’re probably seeing that a little bit now. We’re still building.
“But I love the way Jake plays; he squares up a lot, which is really good for our attack. I think the more he gets involved, the better he’s going to be for our team and the more confident he will be.
“It’s only his second game in and for a half-back, it’s going to take time. He just needs to focus on his game and back himself no matter what, because we’ve got his back. It’s going to come and our combinations will build as the season goes on and the more reps we get in at training, and the more games we get, it will just make us better.”
As for Asiata, there’s no secret to his own game and his role, and it centres on simply giving everything he’s got in every department. Confident he can click into it again alongside Sezer and co., the loose forward continued: “I love to be involved and I love to be that connection between our halves to take a bit of pressure off them.
“For me, it’s all about communication and organisation and making sure we’re ready to go. I enjoy that, and as a leader, that’s what my role is: to make sure everyone is on the same page and we all understand what we need to do and what our job is.
“I just give everything. I love this team. I love this club. And when I put this jersey on, I make sure I give it my best every time. My best is to make sure I’m vocal and make sure I do my part for the team, communicating between the middles and the edges and also help Aidan Sezer out as much as I can.
“I’m his second man. I try to keep a calm head; he’s the angry man, but I try to keep the coolness in our team and make sure that we can brush off any mistakes that come our way so we can focus on what’s next. But there’s no secret; when you’ve got that jersey on, you give it everything.”
Ready to face Leigh, Hull – who had the benefit of a long turnaround this week – are now looking to get their season back on track with a pressure-relieving victory.
“We’re not far off,” Asiata said. “You just need to look at our completion rates over the last three games and they haven’t been great. Errors and penalties have cost us a lot and I think we spend too much of our energy because of those.
“It’s not like the errors are separated through the game. We get in a period where we get an error compounded by a penalty or six again, and then we get the ball back and we give it straight back. Those things hurt us a lot and they take a lot of our juice, but if I look at our season this year compared to last year, we only had one extra win at this stage.
“It’s early days; we’re slowly getting players back, and if we’re able to control the ball a little bit better than what we have been, then we’ll put ourselves in a better position.
“But this is exciting. There’s no pressure and I think both teams will come out and give it everything they’ve got. It’s going to be a tight game again and it’s going to go down to who controls the ball, who can kick to corners, and who can lead the line speed in defence – and who has the more juice and gas at the end, will win the game. It’s going to be a battle.”