Nervous Ellis excited for return

Hull captain Gareth Ellis admits he’s excited and a little bit nervous about making his debut against London tonight (Friday).

Ellis, 31, limped out of the warm-up ahead of the Super League opener against Leeds, and has been on the sidelines ever since.

He is now finally able to pull on the Black and White for the first time in a competitive match.

He told the club’s match day programme: “It’s been a long wait and a very frustrating one for everybody involved, but I’m really, really excited about finally pulling on the Hull FC shirt and leading the team out. There’s no better place to do that either than at the KC Stadium in front of a home crowd.

“It will be one of the biggest moments of my career, but I’ve been trying to play down the nerves a little bit this week and tell myself to keep things low key. Five minutes before kick-off, I’ll be able to let myself go a bit and get excited but I’ve tried to put it to the back of my mind during our preparation.

“I’m feeling fresh and in good shape. I’ve done all the hard work, I’ve put all the effort in but I know nothing can beat match fitness and it might take me a couple of weeks to get up to speed.

“We’ll have to see how it goes and there will be some tough periods for me when I’ll be blowing a little bit, but if I push through those periods, it will stand me in good stead for the weeks to come.”