Paul Sculthorpe has described Hull FC as “a big club but massive underachievers.”
This comes after Hull FC’s new era under now boss Tony Smith started with a 32-30 win over Castleford Tigers.
The Black and Whites led 32-6 after an hour before nearly allowing the Tigers to pull off a stunning comeback.
Following this Sculthorpe gave his assessment of Hull FC and said that Smith needs to change the culture and mentality at the club.
He said on the Last Tackle Podcast:
“To be 32-6 up against Cas and then finish 32-30 I’m sure he’s a bit greyer than he was a couple of weeks ago. When we interviewed him he spoke about one of the biggest things is changing the culture and that mentality of Hull FC.
“They are a big club, they’ve been known as a big club but they’re massive underachievers. I think he’ll be disappointed with that. They’ve got the win but he’ll be disappointed with the performance and that lapse in concentration to let 24 unanswered points in the second half.”
Both Sculthorpe and Adrian Morley believe Leeds Rhinos will come up short this evening as they host Hull FC.
Leeds once had a near perfect record against Hull FC at Headingley. From 2007-18 they were never beaten at home by the Black and Whites. A 26-24 defeat against them in 2019 ended that run and they have not won an official home game against Hull since then.
In 2020 the Rhinos beat them at Headingley as the away team during the pandemic.
Last year was a real low as the Rhinos were beaten 31-8 by Hull FC at Headingley and Paul Sculthorpe believes the same could happen again: “I could see the same again if Leeds turn out a performance that they did on Thursday. I thought they were dreadful.
“There’s been a lot of talk of Leeds contending for trophies this year, they’re going to have to change their performances from that what they showed.
“Bitterly disappointing and there’s a lot of highly paid players in that team who need to start showing up.”
Morley backed him up on this saying he believes Leeds will be under pressure if they lose:
“I can see Hull getting the victory, I agree with Scully, Leeds were poor last Thursday. I know there’s a few injuries but everyone is in the same boat really.
“I think Hull will go and get the victory and it’ll put Rohan Smith and Leeds under a little bit of pressure only two games in. Leeds expect success, particularly at home, so it could be a tricky week for Leeds.”