Watts enjoying competition for places at Hull FC

Hull FC prop Liam Watts is thriving on the fierce competition for places at his club currently.

The Black and Whites have made a solid start to the season, with a fine away win at Huddersfield and a single-point home defeat to Warrington in a low-scoring game.

Watts knows that he has to work hard to stay in coach Lee Radford‘s plans.

“The competition throughout the squad at the moment is outstanding, so I know it’s important to play at my best every week,” he told Hull FC‘s official website.

“I hyper extended my elbow against Hull KR in pre-season which was pretty unfortunate, but the competition for places is so good I knew I had to push myself hard in order to make it back in time for that first match at Huddersfield.

“When you have players like Feka Paleaaesina in my case or Jordan Rankin in another case who are equally desperate for a spot in the side, you have to raise your game.

“We’ll all be looking to carry on what we have started, with another good performance on Saturday.”

Next up for Hull is a Saturday night trip to Salford, a club who have endured some early season turmoil.

Watts is anticipating a tough test from a fired-up team, however.

“We have to focus and keep our heads switched on, obviously Marwan Koukash has given them a bit of stick in the papers and on social media, but I think that will only fire them up more for the match,” he added.

“We will expect a tough game and when going through our match preparations expect to face the best possible Salford side they have had.

“We know it is all about us this week, because the issues they have to sort out are their issues.

“It is about us as a group concentrating on the task in hand, which is winning another Super League match and getting those two points.

“As long as we focus on that, we’ll build on the last two solid performances we have put in.”