Hull FC suffered a devastating 54-4 defeat to the Leigh Leopards in Round Five of the Betfred Super League.
It was a result that saw Hull consigned to a fourth defeat out of their opening five games to start the Super League season and it also saw Leigh Leopards leapfrog them in the table on points difference after their first win of the season.
The Leigh Leopards scored tries through Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley, Rob Mulhern, Ben McNamara, Matt Moylan and braces for both Oliver Holmes and Ricky Leutele.
Hull FC boss says defeat was “unexpected”
Credit: Imago Images
Speaking to BBC Radio Humberside after the game, Hull FC Head Coach Tony Smith addressed what was a disappointing defeat for the Black and Whites.
He said that he didn’t expect the result given the way his side prepared for the game this week.
Smith said: “I didn’t expect it and they have been pretty good in preparation and it wasn’t pretty to watch and it wasn’t what we want to watch and it wasn’t what we were preparing for.
“They were good around the ruck area, they’re dangerous around that area and our old mate Brad Dwyer had a field day and just toyed with us at times. Our line speed wasn’t good and our aggression and line speed wasn’t good enough.”
Smith also explained what is going wrong for the Black and Whites: “There’s a few things, new combinations and players coming back some lacking match fitness. This is no excuses on this but this is just how it is and we’re playing most weeks with 12 men at a time and fatigue can set in for some as well. There can be a number of areas that can attribute to a jaded performance. You can’t have flat performances at this level.”
What next for Hull FC
The simplest next step for Hull FC is getting bodies back. They have some talented players missing and that list of injured players was added to today by the hamstring injury to skipper Danny Houghton on his 400th Super League appearance.
Also, Carlos Tuimavave was taken off early in the game with a knock himself and when you consider the injuries to the likes of Jake Trueman and Jack Walker.
They will also start to get players back from suspension such as Franklin Pele who returned this week but was sin binned for a late hit on Brad Dwyer during the game and could fear another suspension ahead of the Betfred Challenge Cup clash against Huddersfield Giants who lost to Hull KR this week.
