Smith’s praise for Trueman as he insists Hull heading in ‘positive direction’

Hull coach Tony Smith insists his side are heading in the right direction after their four-match winning streak came to an end. 

The Airlie Birds lost their first game in five matches on Sunday after falling short to a 29-22 defeat against Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Smith wasn’t too downbeat after the game, saying they need to improve to win fine margins but believes they are getting there.

He said: “I thought it was a good, competitive game that could have gone either way rather than one that got away.

“I thought they deserved to win – just. It was a game that swung around, I thought it was an entertaining game, I thought both teams came here to win and both gave it a good crack. They were slightly better than us.

“I think it was all in a positive direction. I think we’re all on the same page and playing some good rugby at times.

“You’ve got to give some credit to your opponents. I don’t think there’s a huge difference in the teams at the top and the teams at the bottom and the teams in the middle.

“Sometimes it is down to those fine margins and execution and we’ve seen that. Just because you are sitting at the top of the table, those teams have probably pulled off a few more fine margin executions than some of the other teams but I don’t think there’s a huge gulf in the competition really.

“I think if you have a look at some of the games over the weekend it shows the closeness of some of the teams at the top and in the middle. There’s some good entertainment going on as well, I think thats really important. The weather conditions help, that’s for sure.

“We’re not satisfied, we’re not going home saying we’re satisfied about it, we’ll go away, assess ourselves and try to improve on it but I’m certainly not going to hammer my players in any way shape or form for their effort they put in to the game and that’s all I can really ask for. Hopefully ask them to turn up with that sort of attitude again next week with some improvement in our execution.”

Hull boss praises Jake Trueman

Half-back Trueman scored his first try for Hull in their loss at Salford, earning praise from Smith after the game.

Smith said: “He’s a good player. I love watching Jake, particularly when he runs, he’s good running and he’s got some great passes.

“He’s getting better and he’ll get more confidence and he’ll build on that.

“I still think there’s plenty of improvement in us and the combinations coming better together at times.

“Our execution on some things let us down at times as well, there’s no taking away from that but it’s not through lack of effort and through lack of effort or desire through the week. They train hard and they are trying hard, we’ve just got to keep at it.”

Hull will look to bounce back at Magic Weekend on Sunday when they face league leaders Warrington, 4:30pm kick-off.

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