The young Hull FC forward was superb against Huddersfield.
Hull FC forward Will Kirby produced his best Super League display to date. (Image: SW PIX)
Hull FC have done it tough in recent weeks. The injury crisis, with 15 out due to knocks and suspensions, has been well documented, but amid that crisis comes opportunity: step up, Will Kirby.
The 20-year-old, playing just his sixth first-grade game for Hull FC and his fifth in Super League, looked at home in Saturday’s 36-12 victory over Huddersfield Giants.
Starting at loose forward, the FC young gun, a Hull Wyke junior and boyhood Black and White, played the full 80 minutes, also having spells in both back row spots as Hull rolled the sleeves up defensively before opening up in attack for a satisfying 24-point victory.
And with five local lads all aged 22 or under among the lineup – with Logan Moy, Harvey Barron, Lloyd Kemp and Will Hutchinson all playing their part – it all adds to the satisfaction, especially for Kirby, a tough competitor who has always played with an element of bite in the academy and reserves, a quality which came to the fore in what was arguably his best showing at this level to date.
“Definitely,” a modest Kirby told Hull Live when asked as much post-match. “The games I got in 2024 and 2025 were just little brief cameos that you probably come away a bit disappointed with.
“It’s nice now to get the recognition to be able to play Super league but I don’t just want to be satisfied with that; I want to go and play well in Super League.
“I’ll have to watch it back and see how I went, but I felt a bit better than I have done. Fatigue-wise, I felt a little bit better as well. It’s just adding quality to my involvements now and trying to fix up any loose bits, especially defensively.”
Kirby has done just that since coming into the team at Leigh. He impressed off the bench and took that performance up a notch at Warrington, but this, a first senior start since his debut at Salford two years ago, was his best yet.
“The Leigh game was a big step forward for me,” Kirby continued. “I might not have been great, but lasting in there for as long as I did just give me the confidence to go against Wire and play some big minutes there, and then hopefully here I’ve added a little bit more quality to my involvements.
“That’s the most minutes I’ve played as well, with it being a full 80, so I’m confident, if I get picked next week, that I can last again and hopefully keep adding quality to my involvements, because I know I can do the minutes; it’s just making sure my involvements are getting better every week.
“I also think it’s a credit to the middles we had around me, and Amir (Bourouh) getting it quick. He was jumping out really well, getting it quick, and they (Huddersfield) are a big middle, and they can get tired quite easy, so it was really nice for Amir to run out and find some push. We all took advantage of that, not just me; I think we all did. There were some nice bits on show.”
After the Giants took a 6-0 lead, Hull posted 36 unanswered points before the away side struck again. But Andy Last’s side had to earn them, digging deep in defence with try-saving tackles before striking at the other end. And it’s that effort and grit that has been in Hull’s DNA this year, no matter the result.
“I think the last two or three weeks where I’ve been in the team, you couldn’t question our effort or our integrity as a team,” Kirby said. “It’s just the quality might not have been quite there, like the Warrington game, for example; we only lost by six or so points. We barely had no ball and we only conceded two tries from kicks.
“We’re really tough when it gets down to our goal line and we don’t give up. We’re really proud of that. Our defensive capability, our integrity as a team, could never be in question. It was just adding quality and icing our opportunities, and we did that really well today.
“I thought Logan Moy was really, really good in attack and he really made it easy for Aidan Sezer and Jake Arthur to get the ball to him and he finished some really nice tries off for us.
“But since we’ve known Lasty, he has been very, very, big on our D. Your D wins you games, and being a team that prides itself on the defence, you can score really nice tries, you can be nice in attack, but you’re not going to win if your defence isn’t sound. That’s what we’re trying to pride ourselves on and you get your opportunities on the back of defending really well.”
And as for post-match celebrations, Kirby’s satisfaction on the club’s Hull and Proud week was there to see. He added: “It’s special. I’ve grown up as a Hull FC fan and I’ve come to games since I was five years old, so it felt really nice at full time with the fans cheering and looking around and seeing who you have grown up with, players like Lloyd Kemp and Logan Moy.
“It was nice to get a win, not just for the players, but for the staff and the fans; everyone needed a win – and it was a good one.”