Hull FC boss makes mid-season prediction amid Wigan Warriors admission

Wigan Warriors are still Super League’s ‘benchmark’ team, according to Hull FC head coach John Cartwright. The Cherry and Whites thumped Hull 36-12 on Sunday afternoon to claim a result that saw them move back to within two points of league leaders Hull KR.

Cartwright’s side have come up against Wigan on three occasions already this season and while they may have claimed the win in the Challenge Cup at the Brick Community Stadium, both league meetings have resulted in comprehensive losses.

As such, the Australian head coach has been able to form a fairly strong opinion about the reigning Super League champions and despite being behind the Robins in the table, he still believes they’re the team to beat this year.

“Pretty much for the last month, we’ve been without [a back-row], so it might have caught up against a really classy side,” Cartwright said after Sunday’s loss. “I still think they’re the benchmark – they’re the side that you really hate to play.

“They make you nervous, as they’re so dangerous. You saw it today; we switched off and made some errors, and they’re really hard to defend. You’ve got to pay them credit. They’re a very well-drilled and well-coached team, and that’s where we want to get to.”

John Cartwright addresses Hull FC home record

The loss was the fourth FC have experienced at the MKM Stadium in all competitions this season, with Hull still without a win in East Yorkshire. Those four defeats are split evenly between Wigan and KR, though, while the Black and Whites claimed a draw against third placed Leigh Leopards.

Given that opposition, the home record isn’t something Cartwright is looking at too closely, but he has warned that this season’s honeymoon period has come to an end.

“I’m not worried about where the game is,” he said when asked about the home record. “Losing is the concern and how you play.

“If you start giving that air, then you start thinking about it. For me, it’s a great stadium to play at; we’ve just got to find our groove, but we’ve played Wigan twice here and KR twice here. That’s not to say we don’t go out there to win those games; we certainly do, but they’re the two standouts in the competition, and it’s unfortunate that we’ve had them so early in the season.

“I do see brighter times in the future, and for us the honeymoon is probably over. On the back of last year, we’ve had a pretty good start, but this middle nine to ten weeks, that’s when you find out what you’re about.”