John Cartwright believes Hull FC hooker Denive Balmforth did everything he needed to do in his first loan game at Catalans Dragons. The lively dummy half has joined the French side for a month, making his Dragons debut in Perpignan as the side ran out 32-0 winners over Huddersfield Giants.
Getting back on track after a tough run, Catalans were good value in the sweltering French heat, with Balmforth getting 30 minutes to shine and tick his boxes. And the 22-year-old, who signed a three-year extension to his deal at Hull earlier this season, did exactly that, with Cartwright content with his performance, which will take the player out of his ‘comfort zone’ and present a different challenge.
Speaking to Hull Live, he said: “Catalans turned things around a bit on the weekend, and Denive got around 30 minutes. He was solid in everything that he had to do.
“He didn’t go out of the box, which you wouldn’t expect – he only had one training session with them. But in 30 minutes, he made his tackles, and he gave good service at dummy half.
“That’s it – we can’t offer that to him at the moment with interchanges the way they are, so for him to go over to Catalans – it’s good for him; it takes him out of his comfort zone, he’ll hear different voices and play with different players, and he’s playing minutes at a good level – that’s what he’s there for.”
Elsewhere, Hull have sought another loan move this week, with young forward Zach Jebson joining League 1 outfit Workington Town on loan. Jebson, who has ten first-team appearances to his name at Hull, joins fellow pack member Lennon Clark up in Cumbria, with the Black and Whites having a callback option after two weeks.
On the loan front, Ryan Westerman, Joe Ward, and Will Kirby all played for Championship side Hunslet against London Broncos last weekend. Meanwhile, Hull’s reserves are in action at Cottingham Tigers this Friday night, with St Helens making the trip to Hilltop – the venue for last month’s derby win over Hull KR with the likes of Jack Rampton, Callum Kemp, Lloyd Kemp, et al., set to play.
“It’s been three weeks since their last game, and I really feel for them, but we’re looking forward to it,” Cartwright added. “It was a great day out at Cottingham when we played. We had a local derby and Saints, I would imagine, will be pretty strong in reserve grade. It’s a good opportunity for a lot of young kids to get some footy.”