It’s been a characteristically inconsistent start to the Betfred Super League for Hull FC.
With two wins and two losses on the board, it’s still difficult to know quite what to make of the Airlie Birds in 2022. Everyone knows that on their day Brett Hodgson’s side can beat anybody, and the club from the west-side of Hull always seem to start the season with a squad that on paper, should be competing for honours.
And yet year after year, the black and whites are dogged by their inability to consistently turn in good performances, and former England Halfback Kevin Brown believes that much of this can be linked to the form of one man;
“If Jake Connor plays well they win, and if he doesn’t, they lose. I’ve not seen two more contrasting performances from one player swing his team so far. Last week against Salford it was the best individual performance I’ve seen in Super League, against Castleford it was one of the worst.”
Speaking on The Sportsman’s weekly Rugby League show, The Last Tackle, Brown also identified the Fullback that has impressed the most so far:
“Tui Lolohea playing at Fullback (for Huddersfield), for me at the moment he’s the best player in the competition, he’s taken a lot of pressure off Will Pryce.
Will Pryce and Lolohea are playing the off the cuff rugby, and the Olly Russell and Theo Fages are controlling them so, they’ve got the balance just right.”
The headline game this week in the Betfred Super League see’s St Helens take on Warrington on Friday night, but despite both clubs harbouring silverware ambitions, Brown can only see one winner:
“Any other year you’d say this is a classic, but I’m really disappointed with Warrington. I still think they’ll be contenders at the back end, but I expected Daryl Powell to make a massive difference.
I expect St Helens to do what St Helens do, fly off the line defensively and give the ball to these quality attacking players in Dodd and Welsby, and Lomax and I think it will be a tough night for Warrington.
Alongside Kevin on this weeks show was Batley Bulldogs Head Coach, Craig Lingard.
The 2021 Betfred Championship Coach of the Year’s side come against Featherstone Rovers in the Betfred Challenge Cup, live on The Sportsman this weekend, and despite being the underdogs, Lingard has promised Bulldog’s fans that his players will come out fighting:
“We are the underdogs, and it’s a free hit for us. No one expects us to win, all the pundits will write us off, all the fans will write us off, and that’s how we like it. We perform best with our backs against the wall.
There’s two things you can do, you can either crouch down and get beat, or you can come out swinging, and we want to come out swinging.”
You can watch new episode of #TheLastTackle every Wednesday at 6pm on the Sportsman’s Rugby League Youtube channel, alongside regular exclusive content, and live games, including Batley Bulldogs vs Featherstone Rovers this Sunday.
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