Brett Hodgson praises squad character as Hull FC make winning start against Wakefield Trinity in the Super League

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Hull FC head coach Brett Hodgson was pleased with the efforts of his players as they came out 16-12 winners against Wakefield Trinity at the Be Well Support Stadium.

FC came into this game looking to avenge a nightmare 44-12 final day defeat to Trinity last season, which brought to an end a dreadful 2021 campaign.

Hull drew first blood as Luke Gale opened his account on 12 minutes after some neat work on the left flank by Connor Wynne. Trinity then won a succession of penalties but were unable to break down a stubborn FC rear guard.

“We need to improve our discipline, we gave away too many penalties and six agains – I thought some of them were a bit harsh to be fair,” said Hodgson when asked about the alarming number of penalties his side conceded.

However, before half-time, a mistake from Jake Connor allowed Tom Johnstone to break down field, and after he was eventually stopped in his tracks, Corey Hall was able to finish off some quick passing play. Max Jowitt converted to tie the scores at 6-6 heading into the interval.

Two more new recruits scored debut tries in eight minutes to re-establish the Black and Whites’ winning cushion. Firstly, Joe Lovodua deceived the Trinity defence before finishing with ease – the influential Gale scored his second conversion of the game.

The second saw winger Darnell McIntosh, who was signed from Huddersfield Giants, barge his way through two Trinity defenders to make it 16-6 after 50 minutes.

Trinity continued to pile pressure on the FC defence, and after Connor was sent off for a high shot on Lewis Gaskell on 66 minutes, Tom Johnstone would close the gap with a trademark acrobatic try in the left corner. Jowitt added the conversion to set up a grandstand finish, but FC held firm to record an opening day two points.

Hodgson was full of praise for his side’s efforts in coming away with a victory in tough circumstances, but he still believes improvements can be made ahead of the next run of fixtures.

He said: “We showed a huge amount of character. I’m really proud of the effort. We could have been a bit more clinical, but with the conditions out here, that’s what early games are about.

“There would not have been many teams in the competition playing to their best ability yet. Some things we need to improve into St Helens next week.”

The 44-year old was also impressed by the performance of new captain Gale throughout the 80 minutes:

“He was the general that executed the game plan very well, I thought our set finishes were great.”

As for Wakefield, head coach Willie Poching was left frustrated by his side’s lack of clinical edge.

“I’m frustrated because the effort was outstanding, especially defensively,” said Poching.

“We created field position on the back of that defensive effort, particularly in the first half, but couldn’t quite get ourselves over the whitewash through some lack of execution and lack of detail that we need to look at.

“It’s not ‘get back to the drawing board and wipe it all off again,’ it’s just about fixing it up. I was happy with our start points and our thought process, but it’s just our execution that was disappointing.”

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