New Hull FC head coach John Cartwright expects to see Aidan Sezer reproduce his opening round heroics on a regular basis. The Black and Whites beat Catalans Dragons 24-4 in the south of the France to get off the mark in round one and leave memories of their miserable 2024 season in the rear-view mirror.
Sezer was at the heart of the showing with the skipper turning in a performance to instantly endear himself to the Black and Whites faithful. The half-back collected two assists on the night, setting up tries for Jordan Lane and Tom Briscoe, with Cade Cust getting Hull’s other two on the night.
He dictated play superbly and led the way defensively, too, making some big tackles and showcasing his physicality. He also kicked all but one from the tee. As the scoreline would suggest, Hull had plenty of impressive performers in the south of France with Jordan Rapana, Cust and Yusuf Aydin among those to catch the eye.
However, Sezer was the pick of the lot, leading his side into a bright new era with a deserved victory.
“I knew what we were getting when he got here,” Cartwright said told Sky Sports after the game. “He’s a little competitor, he has a good kicking game and he never gives up.
“I was excited when I spoke to him about coming over here, he was very enthusiastic about it. He’ll play like that every week.”
On the result, a content Hull FC boss added: “We’ve put a line through what’s happened previously and first day of pre-season we addressed where we were and I suppose where we wanted to be.
“The fact is we have a whole new squad of players, new owners, new facilities at training and we’re going to cop those comparisons all year. I’m really happy with that tonight, I knew we’d compete but defensively we had to stop a lot of ball and a lot of penalties, six agains and we just kept hanging in.
“I’m really fortunate with the help I have around me in Simon Grix and Andy Last. Lasty looks after defence, we’re all handymen and help out where we can but those two guys have been fantastic, they’ve done great jobs. It’s round one, we’ll get some confidence out of that.”
