Hull FC take on Hull KR on Thursday night in desperate need of a win.
Hull FC half-back Aidan Sezer.
Andy Last knows the biggest thing Hull FC can do to ease the current frustrations within the club: win. The Black and Whites have endured a miserable season and are sat 13th in Super League with just five victories to their name all year.
It’s been a disaster of a season, with injuries and poor performances derailing any challenge. Former coach John Cartwright was also dismissed after his position became untenable back in April, with Hull limping on since.
Taking on a tough hand, Last has seen defeat in nine of his 11 games in interim charge so far, and is now preparing his side for Thursday’s derby against Hull KR – and given the recent form of the Robins, it’s a clash Hull will be confident they can get something from. But they have to perform – and perform for the 80 minutes.
“Winning solves everything,” Last said. “You get some wins and you can paper over some cracks, but we can’t defend ourselves when we’re performing as we are and losing games.
“It’s far easier doing these interviews when you’ve sat and you’ve won a game, and we need to start winning some game because the noise goes away when you’re winning. And we need to perform better to give ourselves a chance of winning.
“I can certainly understand the supporter’s anger and frustration because we’re not playing well enough and we’re not winning games.”
Asked about where the responsibility lies, Last said: “It’s on me, isn’t it? I have to front this. I’m the one who goes out there and puts a team on the pitch and comes up with the team selections and I’m big enough to accept the performances and results haven’t been good enough.
“The players are aware that there’s some things that they certainly need to do better, but that’s what comes with the territory of being the head coach at this moment in time. When the players perform well and win games, they get applauded and when the team doesn’t play well and you lose, your coach cops it.
“That just comes with the territory of being a coach. I understand that and I can accept that.”
Aiming to finish the year as strong as he can, Last has outlined the club’s motivations. He added: “There’s eight games to go. There’s some fixtures in there which are going to be challenging but I think every team has got reasons to play well.
“Our motivation is to finish the season as strong as we possibly can. We want to produce some good form ahead of the new coach (Steve McNamara) coming in for him to analyse and to make sure you’re part of the plans.
“We’ve got a professional responsibility for the badge and the club, and we need to make sure that we try and give our best every single week whenever we play.”