Tony Smith addresses question over star forward

Hull FC coach Tony Smith was left disappointed last night.

This comes after his side lost a seventh game in a row.

They lost 34-10 to Leeds Rhinos at Headingley as Ash Handley scored twice.

After the game, Tony Smith said:

“Disappointed, it was another game where we had a little more field position and territory than some of the other games that we have been struggling in but it still comes down to converting those periods in the game into points.

“The lack of converting that and putting pressure on our opponents and instead letting them come down the other end and we succumb to very little pressure is disappointing.

“It’s tough, we are doing it tough at the moment as I say to the supporters but it is tough for the people involved and participating.

“I can see effort in there and the way they are trying but some of it is just not coming off for us at the moment.

“Near the back end we put on some little combinations and early on I liked some of our defence forcing Leeds into a lot of errors causing field position and territory.

“But we just couldn’t get over the line or find the right play. We had some restarts but we couldn’t get over the line.”

One big question going into the game centred around Andre Savelio.

Questions have been raised over his future at the club with the forward left out of the Hull derby and last night’s game.

Speaking after the defeat, Smith said Saveilo is dealing with an injury but also his form isn’t good enough:

“Andre is not 100% with his hand, he had some x-rays to see if there was damage to the bone, he has had some swelling.

“Part of it is injury and part of it is his form not being good enough. I would have liked him to play reserves today and if he had been fitter he would have today in order to get into form and we need our players to work hard and get into form particularly some of our bigger names and bigger signings.

“If they have to play reserve grade to do that, then that’s what he has to do.”