Derby date even more significant now for Westerman

Hull FC forward Joe Westerman knows that this week leading up to Friday’s derby with Hull KR is absolutely pivotal to his club’s season now.

The Airlie Birds beat Castleford Tigers 21-18 at the KC Stadium, setting up this week’s clash with the Robins nicely.

“This whole week is now massive,” he told FC Live.

“We’ve just got to prepare for the derby now. To cement your place in the eight is where this club needs to be.

“A win would give us great momentum going into the next phase and then we’ll see where we go from there.

“We spoke all week about getting in that top eight and that win and that performance was what we needed.

“We said we must win and we’ve done that and it was a massive effort from start to finish.