Preparations are underway as Hodgson eagerly anticipates his first Hull derby

Hull FC Head Coach Brett Hodgson is preparing for his first taste of the eagerly anticipated Hull derby on Saturday at the MKM Stadium.

Hodgson will experience what the locals believe is the “Biggest derby in the Super League” for the first time, and despite being a newcomer to the city, he is feeling the hype.

“We’re excited about it, hopefully it’ll be a huge crowd. We’ve got the best supporters in the competition over here, and if they’re out there cheering us, we owe them a performance at home.

“I know we’ve been disappointed with the fact we haven’t got the result in the last two home matches, and we need to make sure we’re out there representing them as well.”

The big news surrounding FC so far this week has been that key man Jake Connor has agreed on a further two-year deal, and Hodgson was delighted to get the deal done and see him back in action.

“Jake’s a great character and a very good player. Its good to have him back in contention to play.

“His extension is not only good for himself and the club but also the fans. He’s a fan favourite for a number of people, and him being back available will definitely help us.”

In their most recent clash, the Black and Whites were beaten 31-16 by the league leaders Catalan Dragons in tough conditions, and FC’s Head Coach is looking to build on the positives from that performance in the lead up to the derby against Hull Kingston Rovers.

“I think it has given us some confidence.

“I think we’ve found a little bit of what was missing over the last couple of weeks in terms of effort and willingness to defend our try line for large periods of time against a very good team.

“We’ll take the good things from that weekend, hopefully into this next game.”

After questions over his side’s discipline in recent matches, there was a major improvement in the South of France and Hodgson has stressed the importance of that continuing on Saturday.

“Its huge. You don’t want to give away too much possession or allow them to get too close to our try line.

“That’s the challenge we’re still trying to work through.

“Getting that controlled aggression but without it going too far over, or jumping early and giving away penalties for offside are elements of our game that we need to get on top of in the build up to the weekend.

“We haven’t reached our potential over the last four games and the results show that.

“Now is a chance for us to refresh, to have another focus. It starts this weekend against a team that’s playing very well, in the biggest game for both ours and their season’s at this stage.

“We’re not going to underestimate what the derby means, we’re fully aware of that and we’ll develop what we want to do towards the end of the week into the game.”

The FC boss has spoken about how his side need to use the adrenaline that comes with an occasion like this positively, whilst still being mindful of the Robins’ threat after their recent impressive form.

“It is a big game, we can’t step away from that. We need to use the emotion that’s involved with it to inspire us to play at the levels we know we can.

“The emotion itself will not win the game, sometimes it can detract your performance if you’re not prepared in your mindset to do what’s required in the game.

“We’re going to have to rise to the occasion. We know that KR are going to come here and throw everything at us. They’re playing with form, they’re playing confidently and we have to find our form again.”

Hodgson also spoke about the threat that KR pose and what he thinks of his cross-city rivals.

“They’ve been very good and they’ve played without a couple of key personnel in the last couple of weeks and got the results as well.

“They’re a good second-phase side. They throw the ball around offloads, they’ve got some big boys who ramp up and carry the ball strong.

“Brad Takairangi is a big threat as is their backfield with the likes of Ryan Hall and Shaun Kenny-Dowall, coming from the back and giving their forwards some field position to play off the back of.

“We’ll have a look at what their threats are as the week progresses, and we’ll do our best to nullify that.

“We’ve got to slow the ruck down, we’ve got to win our contacts and collisions by working together and staying in the system.

“Our initial intent at the start of the game will be crucial.”

In terms of his squad selection, he is hoping to be able to name a full 21-man squad in the lead up to the game, with numerous players back in contention.

“We’ll get a number of players back this week,”

“We’re still without a couple but we’ll have the majority back which is pleasing for us and there’ll be a couple of headaches around selection which as a coach is what you want.

“We’re still waiting on a couple of late scenarios but the suspension boys are back and most of the COVID boys are back, which we’ll announce later in the week.”

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