A firm message for Hull FC.
Hull FC celebrate Tom Briscoe’s try at Magic Weekend. (Image: Dave Lofthouse, Hull FC)
Andy Last has warned his Hull FC side to bring the right attitude to York Knights on Thursday night or risk another defeat to the Super League newcomers.
The Knights completed a double Hull swoop back in February, defeating both Hull KR and Hull in the opening three weeks of the season.
Mark Applegarth’s side have followed that scalp up with three more Super League wins since, two coming in their last two games, with Last laying down the challenge to his Hull players ahead of a first competitive trip to LNER Community Stadium.
The Black and Whites played a behind-closed-doors trial match at the North Yorkshire venue in 2021 but this will be a ground tick for the current squad, not to mention the club’s travelling fans – 1,100 at least of whom will back the club on the road again.
“It’s going to be a tough one on the back of the Magic Weekend and playing a derby,” Last told Hull Live ahead of the clash. “We’ve got to make sure that our performance level is exactly where it needs to be.
“We can’t dip our toe in; we can’t fail to turn up to the game full of good intent and full of good attitude because if we do that, we’ll get turned over and it’s a really important game for us.
“The players are fully aware that they cannot let their levels drop. They’ve got to find the level they were at last week against Hull KR and find the level they were at the week before against Wigan and go to another level, because we’ll need to in order to beat York.”
Outlining the key messages for his side, Last continued: “We’ve got to make sure that we start the game with great intent, making sure that we’re disciplined. That’s something that we’ve really, really hammered home this week about discipline and I don’t just mean discipline in terms of penalties and the officials.
“I mean, discipline in terms of how you go about your business, how you stick to the plan, how you make sure that you keep your inside shoulders, how you keep trying to find the free men, and how you make sure that you keep getting off your line at A and B and having good intent and good line speed.
“Discipline is not just the man in the middle. It’s about how we actually attack the game and how we stick to plan. That’s going to be a key message for us on Thursday night.”
And on York, Last added: “They put in a strong performance last week and scored plenty of points against Huddersfield. And the week before, they were very gritty against Castleford. They’re going to be confident.
“It’s at their place and they’ve had some good performances and good results at their place. It’s going to be a warm night on Thursday evening. They’ve got some talented players, Paul McShane and Jordan Thompson being two ex-Hull players, and we will need to be at our best to beat them.”