John Cartwright admits Saturday’s performance was potentially the best he has ever seen Aidan Sezer produce. Hull FC came from behind to claim a memorable victory over Wigan Warriors at the Brick Community Stadium to seal their spot in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup and Sezer was right at the heart of it.
The 33-year-old claimed two assists on the night, setting up Lewis Martin’s final two tries, efforts that proved to be decisive, but he had a hand in everything the Black and Whites did well against Matt Peet’s side. Moving the Warriors’ pack around with his movement and creativity, Sezer dictated play, set a rhythm and built the platform the visitors needed to come from behind and stun last season’s quadruple winners.
The half-back has arguably been Hull’s player of the season so far having joined the club from Wests Tigers over the off-season, with Cartwright instantly getting the best out of him.
The head coach has worked with Sezer before at Gold Coast Titans, where the scrum-half started out, and he has followed his career with interest ever since, but he has seldom seen a showing better than Saturday night’s.
“Best game I’ve seen him play for a long, long time, if ever,” Cartwright told BBC Radio Humberside before waxing lyrical about his skipper. “He turned the game.
“A couple of sets in a row he just ran the ball, took the bit between his teeth and decided he was going to get us out of trouble and the rest of them followed him.”
Unfortunately for Hull FC the win seemed to come at a price as Harvey Barron was forced off the field in the second half with a hamstring issue. The winger intercepted a pass and carried Hull into another attacking position before being replaced by Logan Moy for the final stages of the game.
“He tightened up in the hamstring after the intercept and we had Logan on the bench,” Cartwright said. “We didn’t know how we were going to use Logan but with Cade, who can play hooker, if you lose a key player, it’s nice to have a makeshift person on the bench. We went with Logan on the bench and it’s really fortunate that we did.”
