Brett Hodgson has his say on Jake Connor red card following Hull FC win and provides injury update on Carlos Tuimavave and Josh Griffin

Jake Connor was sent from the field in Hull FC’s 16-12 victory over Wakefield Trinity after referee Marcus Griffiths believed the fullback had hit the breaking Lee Gaskell round the head with intent.

Gaskell had made a break, and, with Connor the last man in defence, he caught him high.

However, Hull FC head coach Brett Hodgson believes it was a yellow in the light of the current rules, although he did admit he didn’t see it too well.

“I think whenever there is a change in this we’ve gone from zero to a hundred and it will take a couple of weeks to understand what a red card is,” Hodgson said.

“I didn’t think it was a red card when it happened – I thought with the current climate it was a yellow but there was no intent even though he caught him high.”

Connor fractured his hand just over a fortnight ago, but returned in surprising fashion as Hodgson explained why he was included.

“There was a fracture there but Jake came to us during the week saying that he wanted to play and it wasn’t too bad.

“It was going to be a pain management thing but he was happy to put himself in a position to put the team first which is what we want.”

Overall, Hodgson was full of praise for his players, though he did call for better discipline.

“We showed a huge amount of character and I’m really proud of the effort.

“We could have been more clinical but the conditions out there weren’t good.

“We need to improve on our discipline, we gave away too many penalties and six agains – I thought some of them were a bit harsh to be fair.”

Two men that missed out for Hull were Josh Griffin and Carlos Tuimavave who both pulled up late.

” At the back end of the week they tightened up and we thought it best at this time of year not to risk it but I’m pretty confident they will be right for St Helens.

Hodgson was also full of praise for debutant Luke Gale who scored one try, kicked two goals and generally bossed the afternoon.

“He was the general that executed the game plan very well, I thought our set finishes were great.

“We were trying to keep the ball away from Tom Johnstone because of his kick returns.”