Hull FC will make a change to their halves this weekend.
Young Hull FC half-back Callum Kemp.
John Cartwright will make another forced change to his Hull FC spine ahead of Sunday’s Super League round six game against Catalans Dragons, with Callum Kemp likely to come in for the suspended Cade Cust.
The teenager was an unused interchange option against Leeds Rhinos last week but is now seemingly the most obvious choice to come in and partner Jake Arthur in the halves in the absence of Aidan Sezer, albeit twin brother Lloyd Kemp is another option, with Logan Moy also in the mix.
And while there’s frustration in what is going to be another forced change to the spine positions, for Cartwright, there’s also excitement at giving a young player his latest opportunity.
“It’s going to be a new combination again,” the head coach told Hull Live. “We haven’t had the same combination since our trials started. That’s when you get your real improvement, playing combinations under pressure, but we haven’t been able to consistently do that.
“I’ve been really happy with how the team has competed and how they have come together, especially last weekend. We’ve got three of the four going again, so it’s not as big of an issue as we’ve had in the past.
“For Callum personally, he is a very young boy; he’s only 19 and straight out of the academy, and it’s tough to go in his position and play Super League consistently. He’s had a fair few appearances now, though, and I have no problem when the time arises and the situation is right to put him in.
“We’ve got a couple of options. We’ve got both of the Kemp boys, and Logan is up and about again. We trained today (Thursday) – we’ve got two or three combinations and we’ll finalise them on Saturday.”
Impressed with both twins’ development, Cartwright is backing both Kemps to keep kicking on at Hull FC, especially as they naturally develop in a physical sense. In the meantime, there’s a key message, and it’s one of patience.
“Physically, they’re still improving,” he said. “They’re growing basically – they’re young boys. They’re still getting better and they’re probably still a few years away from being at their best, physically. That’s when I think we’ll see the best out of them in Super League.
“Everyone wants to play at the top level straight away, but the reality is it’s a process and it takes time. But again, that’s the frustrating thing, that we struggle to get as many games into them as we possibly can. We’d like to get more into them; it’s improved a bit this year with the reserve competition, and hopefully we’ll get to a stage where every weekend, they follow the Super League.
“But it is difficult. It’s a big frustration from a coach’s point of view, just the ability to have all of your squad be playing consistently at a good level. The way that injuries are, right across the board, at the moment, you need them. You can’t get what you want out of training; you need to get them games, but it is what it is, and we try to get them as much gametime as we can.”
Outlining what he loves most about both players, Cartwright added: “They’re just really switched-on boys. They live for their footy – they love it. I call them backyard footballers; they look like they’ve spent their whole childhood kicking the ball around.
“They’ve picked things up pretty quickly. It’s just experience and physically developing those boys. We’ve got good plans for them.”