Andy Last left feeling like a ‘Hull FC punchbag’ after heavy loss to Leigh Leopards

Hull FC interim head coach Andy Last has had his say on the club’s disappointing loss to Leigh Leopards, hailing the spirit of the players but admitting that there was simply a lack of quality.

The Black and Whites are in an injury crisis but they’re also a club lacking form and that saw Last make the bold decision to drop captain Aidan Sezer, despite the fact the club were without so many other senior players.

As such, they made seven changes to the side that lost against Bradford Bulls with Lennon Clark and Ben Johnson debuting, whilst their four-man bench had not played a single game for the club in 2026 which highlighted their squad issues.

It was therefore no surprise to see Leigh win 42-6 but they didn’t have it all their own way as the Leopards scored six tries in the second half to round off a brilliant win, but confirm another torrid loss for Hull FC.

Trying to explain that second-half collapse when speaking post-match on Sky Sports, Andy Last said: “A couple of moments went against us, and I thought Leigh came out in the second half, played very, very disciplined, completed highly, and just physically looked a bit better than us there.

“They’re a slick team, very, very good attacking team. They caused us some problems in that second half, but I’m really, really proud of the lads’ effort.”

Last also pointed to the debutants Lennon Clark and Ben Johnson, adding: “They’ll remember this night for a long, long time.”

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No lack of effort for Hull FC, claims Last

It’s yet another game this season where Hull FC have been kept scoreless for a full half of rugby league and Last put that down to one early error before Leigh started to turn the screw.

He explained: “We didn’t see much good ball field position in that second half. We had one moment where we played a good little bit of rugby out of yardage.

“Harvey Barron flies down the sideline, and then Jake Arthur makes the decision to run, tries to reach out but doesn’t ground the ball and then we don’t see good ball again.

“They starved us field position, and that’s what Leigh are very, very good at. They kick the ball well, and they’re frontload a lot of energy in the defence, and we struggled to get out of our own end tonight, and that was the story in the second half.”

It now marks three consecutive losses for the Black and Whites with this the heaviest of Last’s current tenure and when asked how challenging this current period is, Last admitted: “I feel like a little bit of a Hull FC punchbag, taking some shots, but I know we’ve got a committed group in there.

“Our backs are to the wall, we’ve got players busted, but the spirit was there, and they’ve shown the spirit tonight.

“All I can ask is the lads keep giving their best of themselves. If the best of themselves isn’t quite good enough, because we’re lacking a little bit of quality, then so be it. But I can never question the lads’ effort.”

A dominant success for the Leopards 🐆#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/TIGk1eHCa8

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 22, 2026