Hull FC must turn performances around or risk missing play-offs says head coach
Hull FC head coach Brett Hodgson says his team risk losing out on the play-offs if they do not turn around their performances.
The side fell to a second-half collapse to Castleford and conceded 38 unanswered points at the MKM Stadium.
Hull FC had led 18-14 at half-time, before Castleford ran in a further six tries for a 46-18 victory.
“The game was there to be won at half-time but the second half was nowhere near good enough,” said Hodgson.
“It’s difficult when you’re in a rut, you have to fight your way back out of it.”
In a game with six cards shown, Hull had two players sin binned and Ligi Sao sent off. Connor Wynne was shown a yellow early in the clash, before being sent off again in the second half.
“The disappointing thing is that we felt it was tougher pushing and shoving rather than defending and the fact that we got three people carded is just not ok,” Hodgson added.
“There are some players that absolutely have pride in their shirt and there are others that aren’t doing enough.
“If we keep playing the way we are we won’t be in contention to play in the finals and we need to turn things around quickly.”
Lee Radford delighted with performance
Castleford boss Lee Radford was delighted with his team’s response after falling behind at the break.
The Tigers lost Gareth O’Brien and Alex Mellor to head knocks, but rallied superbly, dominating all aspects of the game. Derrell Olpherts crossed for four tries, with Bureta Faraimo, Suaia Matagi and Alex Sutcliffe also scoring.
“We had two available interchanges at half-time and only had three changes left at half-time,” Radford explained. “I thought our middles dug in massively, Dan Smith and Suaia Matagi was phenomenal,” he said.
“Derrell has been immense the last five or six weeks. He and Bureta (Faraimo) have been enormous coming out of backfield, you look at the metres they clock for us it makes a massive difference.”
The victory also marked Radford’s first return to Hull as an opposition coach.
“It was weird,” he said. “Pulling into the ground, it’s the first time I’ve been back here. It felt a bit surreal.
“I might have been a bit on edge prior to the game but it was a strange experience but there are some things I’ve done here that can never be taken away and I’m very grateful for that.”
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