After ending an 11-game losing run with an 18-10 victory over Leeds Rhinos, the big question for Hull FC now is: what comes next? Committed, desperate, and spirited, the Black and Whites fully deserved the two competition points over the Rhinos. They showed the character and desire needed to win, they hung on, and they got their reward.
But now that the dust has settled, it’s all about the next challenge: Warrington Wolves at home. It’s the start of a tough run of fixtures over the next several weeks against all of the current Super League top six. It doesn’t get any easier.
However, Hull, who have shown some growth in recent weeks and certainly from where they were two months ago, can attack each fixture now with some rediscovered confidence. Now on an upward curve mentally, they believe they can be competitive, and they have nothing to lose.
Now that there is some consistency in Simon Grix’s team selections, the team’s cause is advanced as new combinations and a degree of familiarity emerge. Additionally, even in their most recent losses, their performances have improved greatly from earlier in the year.
However, a healthy dose of reality is still required. Hull, with a long, long way to go and currently sitting in tenth position on the table, will be the underdog once more this Saturday, and so forth. From an external perspective, not much has changed, but at least this team has given themselves and their supporters something to work for. Who knows where it will lead them, but as long as they put in the work and
Regardless of the results, Hull may continue to gain momentum with some outstanding performances as there is still a lot more rugby league still to play. That ought to be the plan of action for Wire and beyond: focus on getting the performance right, try to grow better with greater quality, and see what happens.
Grix will undoubtedly be trying to achieve that, and there may be some difficult decisions to be made in the selecting process. The more difficult those decisions become in the event that Danny Houghton is cleared to return to action. In such a situation, Denive Balmforth’s future will be highly watched, especially after Balmforth impressed last week off the bench.
Given his Player of the Match record, the appropriate message would include Morgan Smith, Houghton, and the young hooker in the matchday lineup at the very least. Over the past month, Logan Moy, who has filled in for Jack Walker, has been subjected to that message and, in fact, that reasoning.
While Moy has filled in at fullback for the last three games and performed admirably, Walker did not have his greatest performance away from home against the London Broncos. Although each situation is unique, Hull has thus far used that reasoning.
This week, Hull must also take Jed Cartwright into account. The new Australian back-rower has been training in the UK and may make his club debut on Saturday. If so, that presents Grix with still another dilemma—namely, whether to remove someone else from last week’s 17 spots.
It’s unclear who that would be, but team news and further injury updates will be provided over the course of the next day or two. However, it appears like Hull, who have made some major adjustments to their roster for both this season and the following, now have a club that can at least compete fiercely in every round, and ahead of some challenging games and competition for spots, that can
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