It’s fair to say, Super League Round One didn’t go according to plan for Hull FC and Tony Smith.
Not only did they lose 22-0 to their biggest rivals Hull KR but they also lost Herman Ese’ese to a yellow card and Franklin Pele and Ligi Sao to red cards with the three of them all facing disciplinary action after the game.
This led to a few apologies as Tony Smith confirmed on the club’s official website. He said: “There was a few apologies thrown about post-match but we don’t want to have to have too many apologies this year. We want to be able to sit in our changing room and look each other in the eye and tell each other ‘we gave each other a chance there to either win it’, or ‘we were good enough to win tonight’.”
Hull FC star apologies for red card
Smith also confirmed that Hull FC star signing Franklin Pele had been particularly apologetic. He said: “Obviously he’s been apologetic, put his hand up. He understands. He needs to be able to control himself. He needs to apologise and learn from it and not do it again.
“I think every young person is, and old person is, excused from doing, making a mistake and losing their cool and losing their head at some stage, but if you keep doing it, well then it becomes an issue and a problem.
“That won’t be the case with Frank. I’m confident that he’ll learn hard from this one. It is. He understands that his contribution to the outcome of the game, he understands that. He understands the influence and lack of influence for the next few weeks.
“We’re going to have to do without him and he’s a big person to do without. So he gets that, he’s very remorseful but you’ve got to learn your lessons in the heat of the battle and that’s going to be his next test.
“It was a great hit by Frank and that’s all it needed to be. He just let the heat of the moment and the battle get to him a bit. That’s the beauty of our sport, is the discipline of it as well. You’ve got to have it.”
Somewhat controversially, Pele was only suspended for three games whilst Liam Watts of Castleford Tigers was banned for four.
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