Brett Hodgson: We are not far off
Hull coach Brett Hodgson remains confident that his side can convert tight defeats into victories following their loss to Leeds.
The Black and Whites fell short to a 22-12 defeat to the Rhinos at the MKM Stadium on Thursday night.
It was their second successive defeat ahead of a gruelling schedule which sees them take on Super League’s top three – St Helens, Warrington and then Catalans Dragons – and improving local rivals Hull KR.
Hodgson said: “In the first half, we asked plenty of questions but played too laterally. We just have to play more direct.
“It’s fine margins in this game and we are not far away. As a team, we were good in parts but we have got to learn from those periods where when it gets tough we have to be a little bit more resilient and defend our try-line.
“We are not far off. We are not going to wallow in this one tonight. We know how we can get better and we know what we need to do in terms of being a bit more resilient.
“It doesn’t get any easier against St Helens, no doubt about that, but we believe we can win. And it’s important we go into that game with that belief.”
REPORT: Hull 12-22 Leeds: Second half surge sends Rhinos home with win
Leeds coach Richard Agar admitted it was a “game of two halves” and that the half-time interval proved crucial in their hard-fought 22-12 victory at Hull FC.
]The triumph puts seventh-placed Leeds back in the top-six play-off race as they closed the gap on Hull, who still occupy fifth in the table.
Agar said: “It was a game of two halves for us, I thought. (In the first half) we didn’t play controlled enough, too many mistakes, too many penalties and it left us to defend our own try-line for long periods.
“Half-time was a pretty simple one for us. We needed to flip that around. The way we turned it around I thought was really, really good from our guys.
“They had the confidence to get in the grind and win a tight game. I would put it down to the change at half-time where we talked about getting in the grind.”
