Hull FC boss dissects ‘out of sync’ performance after huge loss to Leigh Leopards

Hull FC lost again on the road in Super League today with Leigh Leopards defeating the Black and Whites 42-12 as second-rower Kai O’Donnell ran in four tries.

The Black and Whites are still yet to win away from home this season but at halftime, it looked like they might have a chance as they brought it back from 12-0 to be tied up.

Given Leigh were playing their third game in ten days, there was perhaps hope in the Hull FC dressing room that they could take control, just as Leeds Rhinos did against a fatigued Wigan Warriors on Saturday.

That wasn’t to be the case with the Leopards running in six tries in the second half, three of which came from Kai O’Donnell and two from future Hull FC man Zak Hardaker.

Hull FC did enter the game with a dozen players missing but the game marked the second straight week that they had conceded 40 or more points, having not done so since April in the first game of Simon Grix’s tenure.

Grix spoke with Sky Sports after the game to give his verdict on what he labelled an “out of sync” performance.

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Hull FC looking to the future despite defeat

The Hull FC boss conceded that his side’s inexperience let them down as he reasoned that the decimation of his squad made for hard work, something his side committed to.

He explained: “There’s a bright future for some of those young blokes but it was too much of a task for them today.

“It’s tough but I think they’re a good group. They are sticking together, as you can see, when they’ve got the energy, they’re trying their best and scrambling like mad for each other and it’s really nice to see.”

“Today was just too much for them. Leigh just ran hard, tackled hard, looked after that ball and taught us a bit of a lesson. There are many lessons for this young group along the way and as we keep saying it will serve them well down the track.”

Throughout the season, a total of 43 players have donned the Black and Whites jersey with 22 of those debuting for the club which shows the huge task that Grix has had. Given such a huge turnover in the squad, it’s no surprise that he claimed the team were ‘out of sync’.

He said: “We’re not really in sync with each other obviously and just basic errors took it away from us and obviously we can’t do that at the moment. We need to make the opposition make six tackles as often as we can and we weren’t able to do that enough today but credit to Leigh, I thought they were really good.”

On Leigh, he continued and added: “I think they have been really professional in their approach with three games in 10 days which is always really difficult but I thought they had the right attitude and they played with a good level of intent.”