Brett Hodgson believes his side owe the Black & Whites supporters, and themselves, a performance as they aim to finish the season positively against Wakefield Trinity tomorrow evening.
The Airlie Birds travel to West Yorkshire to take on Willie Poaching’s side at the Mobile Rocket Stadium in their final match of the 2021 Betfred Super League campaign.
And after a disappointing final few weeks of the season, Hodgson explained that it is crucial that his side go into the off-season and new pre-season campaign on a positive note.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Hodgson said: “It’s critically important that we go out on a winning note, it’s all we’ve spoken about all week. Those players that take to the field on Friday night have the job of ensuring the supporters have something to cheer going into the off-season.
“There is no dead-rubber match for us at this club – it may not mean much in terms of effecting our position in the table, but we go out there to perform against every team, and aim to be at our best.
“The players who are available and deserve to be involved, will be in the team. There are others who are lacking form obviously and need to play well to be at our best.
“We owe everyone a performance, including the fans and ourselves too. There has been a lot of hard work done behind the scenes this season, even though we haven’t got the results. We owe it to the fans, the staff, and the badge that we go out there and get a result to finish the season with a positive.”
On Trinity, Hodgson added: “We’re going up against a side that are very dangerous across the park, and they’ll be hurting from their performance against Leigh, and they’ll be wanting to turn that around.
“Willie is a great man and he’s been looking for this opportunity for a long time; there is no doubt they are playing better under him. That’s not disrespect to Chris Chester either who is a good man and a good coach, but their changes have helped freshen them up a bit.
“If they have the majority of possession, they have players in the middle Westerman, Fifita, and Tanginoa in the middle who can cause some damage, with Mason Lino and Jacob Miller creating chances off the back of that.”
“When they’re on a roll, it’s like playing uphill against them. If we’re willing to complete our sets, and kick well, we’ll be well in the game.
“We have to earn a performance by finishing our sets and grinding out a win, and enjoying that process too.”
Hodgson also discussed his side’s latest injury news, with Marc Sneyd joining the list of players unavailable through injury, as well as Mahe Fonua being a major doubt having picked up an ankle injury last weekend.
“Marc hurt his shoulder at the weekend; it’s another contact injury of which we’ve had substantial amount this season. It’s an injury with a four to five week timescale before he’s back to full fitness, however he won’t require surgery. It’s a torn muscle in the top of the bicep tendon. We’ll rehab him over the next couple of weeks and get him ready to go for pre-season.
“Mahe is struggling; we will give him until game time to see if he is right to go, but it’s looking doubtful at the moment.
“We aren’t going to sit here and make excuses for the position that we are in but there is no doubt that our injury situation has been tough during periods this season. But things under our control haven’t been at their best too.”
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