Lee Radford: Some Hull FC players lacked effort

Drew Darbyshire

Hull FC coach Lee Radford said some of his players didn’t look bothered in their record defeat at Warrington.

The Black and Whites were hammered 80-10 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday night. It was FC’s biggest-ever defeat.

Hull FC were smacked 72-10 by Wakefield last month and Radford said the feeling was very similar to that game.

Speaking after the game, he said: “It was a disappointing evening.

“It is the second time I’ve questioned the players effort, the first was Wakefield. It is a very similar feeling to the Wakefield game. Some of the efforts from our senior blokes were very questionable as well.

“There is a commitment to the supporters and there is a commitment to the 16 blokes who you are lined up with to go and have a dig for each other. But clearly by their efforts tonight, that level probably doesn’t mean as much to some as it should do.

“It is not easy to get over. There are five games left and it is going to be the longest five weeks of everyone’s lives involved.”

Hull FC were without seven first-team regulars for the Super 8s fixture, and a lot of youngsters were forced to play.

And Radford explained that they do not have the right blend of youth and experience in the squad at the moment.

He added: “It looks like some of the younger fellas are overjoyed when they are not selected because they are not in the firing line, but there is just nothing there to make those changes.

“The personnel at the moment is very, very young. I was sat on a bench with six kids half of my age… is that one of the issues? Possibly.

“It is a new one this for me so lifting them will be interesting. It is alien to me so it will be interesting.”

Josh Griffin left the field in the second half and didn’t return. Radford admitted that he didn’t know the extent of Griffin’s injury yet.