Radford wary of Leeds

Hull FC coach Lee Radford believes Leeds will be difficult to overcome when they visit the KCOM Stadium.

The Rhinos defeated the Airlie Birds when the last time the two teams met earlier in the season at Headingley. But Leeds are now set for the Middle 8s.

“It makes them a little bit more dangerous (not having anything to play for),” Radford told the club’s website.

“Offensively with Leeds you don’t know what’s coming; they can transfer the ball from one side of the field to the other with three passes and when you think play’s going away from you, it’s coming back to you.

“They’re very unorthodox with how they are with the ball, high energy with the ball and support fantastically well.

“Add to that they’ve not got a lot to play for, that’s going to multiply that style of play.”

Hull FC are coming off a surprise loss to Huddersfield.

“Looking back at last week’s game, we needed some energy. We were energy-less in our performance,” Radford explained.

“I watched Catalans v Wigan on Saturday and we’re very much the same.

“The fixture took a fair bit out of both sides, which goes to show the level of competition in the Super League.

“If you have that off night then the bottom of the table beats you, and that’s a credit to the competition.

“The focus is solely on performance. I’m getting questions about being top of the table and being through to the Cup semi-final, and as a coach you’re always referring back to your performance and where you need to improve and where you’ve been good.

“That emphasises how important it is for us, because we didn’t perform where we needed to last week in terms of our energy.”