Hull FC have enjoyed being the underdog this season. Written off by many of the game’s pundits prior to the season’s start, they have also been underdogs in many of this year’s matches.
However, come Saturday’s game against Huddersfield Giants, that won’t be the case. In fact, at the timing of writing, competition sponsor Betfred has John Cartwright’s side as 2/11 favourites. The Giants are priced at 4/1.
And that’s a challenge Andy Last insists Hull have to be ready for. They haven’t fared well when favourites this year, with the Magic Weekend clash against Huddersfield and the home meeting with Castleford Tigers coming to mind, but coming in after an outstanding away win at Wigan Warriors last week, it’s something the side, looking to make it three wins in a row, now has to overcome.
Replicating that performance is the goal, with Hull completing at 97% against the champions – a statistic that set them well on their way to what was a superb 32-12 victory. But they know they can’t take their foot off the gas, with only a performance that matches recent standards good enough to earn another win.
“That’s the challenge,” Last, speaking in Hull’s pre-match press conference, said. “It’s a dangerous game, this one. For whatever reason, we like to be the underdog, one who is backed into a corner; it seems to bring the best out of us.
“The form of Huddersfield going into this game and the fact that we have beaten Wakefield and then Wigan away puts us as favourites, so we’ve got to deal with that tag and make sure that we perform accordingly. Huddersfield are a dangerous side, though—their position on the ladder doesn’t reflect the quality that they have got in their side.
“Again, it’s a dangerous game, but we’ve prepared really well this week. We’ve got one more session to go on Friday, but we’ll need to be at our best. I think that’s the beauty of Super League at the minute; you have to perform at your best to get a win, whether you’re playing the team at the top of the ladder or the team at the bottom of the ladder. It’s a dangerous game, and it’s one that we need to make sure we are at our best for.”
Asked how Hull has handled that favourites tag so far this year, Last replied: “Not very well. I think that’s evident: Castleford at home and Huddersfield at Magic—those are two games that stand out for me where we were certainly favourites going into those games.
“We didn’t play well for whatever reason, so the challenge for us is to make sure that we perform to the best of our capability, and if we do that, we give ourselves a chance of winning the game.
“The second-half performance against Wakefield was very good, and that was at home—we managed to get that monkey off our back and win in front of our home fans. We need to make sure that we get off to a really good, strong, and competent start with the required intensity.
“We need to be patient and build our game and go for 80 minutes. That’s what Huddersfield will ask us to do—it’s a difficult game to prepare for, but we’ve done a good job so far this week.”
Recalling the defeat to the Giants, a game which saw Sam Eseh and Liam Knight issued cards, Last has been impressed with the response in one key area since. Meanwhile, Hull, with eight rounds of the season to go, are still in charge of their own destiny and will end the latest Super League round in a play-off position with victory at the MKM Stadium.
On Magic, Last continued: “It was a bump, but I think we’ve done a good job since then. John was stern and firm with the group after that performance. He showed his teeth and basically told the lads that our discipline is really hurting us.
“Our record since that day in terms of discipline has been very good. We need to make sure we keep 13 blokes on the field, and you give yourselves a chance if you do that.
And on backing up last week’s win, Last added: “It’s huge. I think every game now is important. We need to make sure that we keep knocking off each game and view them as grand final games.
“It’s the old cliché, but it’s one week at a time. We had a great week’s preparation leading into Wigan, and we had a strong performance, and we’ve had a great week of preparation leading into Huddersfield. We need to make sure that we perform well.”