Harvey Barron on backfield tweaks, Hull FC’s win at St Helens, and kicking on against Cas.
Hull FC winger Harvey Barron.(Image: Dave Lofthouse, Hull FC)
It’s now over four years since Hull FC winger Harvey Barron made his Super League debut.
Coming off the bench, the then 19-year-old made a try-scoring appearance away at Toulouse Olympique, showcasing his football skills picked up as a junior to touch down on debut.
Now 23 and thriving, Barron feels at home in the competition. It’s not always been easy, and there’s been some tough spells, but there’s now a welcome confidence and swagger about him.
“I feel at home now,” the athletic winger told Hull Live. “It was a rough couple of years at the start but I’ve been working hard both physically and on the field as well to get better and smarter with how I’m playing.
“I’m feeling a lot better this year and hopefully I can keep going and keep developing. I feel more confident. You play in big games and if you play well in big games, you start to feel like you belong at this level, and then you keep rolling with that confidence and momentum and hopefully get where you need to be.”
Barron’s confidence comes after working on some subtle tweaks to his game with interim head coach Andy Last. Now running at a lower point, he’s reaping the rewards, strong in the backfield carry and popping up with a first Super League hat-trick in Thursday’s 32-18 win at St Helens.
“One went into touch, but that was Aidan Sezer’s fault,” Barron joked. “I feel like I just put them down. The boys inside me do the hard stuff and just get the ball to me. I’ve just got to make sure I ice them on the end and I did that here.”
And on his work in the backfield, the winger continued: “I felt like I was running with my chin in the air before, which meant the other big boys could get under me and drive me back.
“I was losing the battle on the floor, so I’ve made a real focus of getting lower and winning that initial contact, getting my nose down, and then the boys can play off the back of that.
“It’s stuff that we’ve been working on and the coaching staff have been keeping us accountable. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to get that right and help the team out.”
As for victory over the Saints, the satisfaction was there to see. It was just Hull’s sixth in the league this year and ended a tough run of seven successive defeats.
“It was a good win,” Barron said. “We worked hard during the week, we stripped everything back, and had some honest chats with each other about what we wanted to get out of the rest of the season, so it’s nice to come here and get the job done and get a good feeling back in the group.
“We played simple, stripped everything back, like I say, changed a few little things, and played to what we know. It worked and now we roll on to next week.
“We’re back at home against Cas, and we know the fans will still turn up in numbers so we’re playing for them and their support. Hopefully we’ll put on another good show and get another two points.
“We were really desperate here, and I think you saw it in the celebrations at the end. We really needed that, the two points, and not just for us, but for the fans and the club and everything. It took a big weight off us but we’ve got to keep striving for more.
“It was ecstatic (the celebrations). Everyone just ran over to the fans, who travelled well again. We owe it to them and we’ve just got to keep working hard.
“There have been a lot of honest conversations over the last few months, not only with each other but also as a group and as coaches. It’s been a real eye-opener to everyone.
“We just haven’t clicked for a full 80 minutes, which is something that we need to work on. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction and we’ll get back to where we need to be.”