Tony Smith has praised his young squad for their improved second-half display in their opening pre-season fixture against Bradford yesterday.
Hull, who went into the game with a full squad of players aged 22 or under, and some 20 Centre of Excellence products, valiantly fought back from being 28-6 down to get within two points of the Bulls at the full-time hooter, losing 34-32.
Speaking on his stand-out performers,, Smith said: “There are some good, experienced young men in that group, and Will leads the way from the front. He follows in the footsteps of some of the players that he’s played under.
“He understands the role of leading the way with the hard yards and getting forward. I thought he got better as the game went on today. He was one of our better players.
“I thought Jack Charles caught the eye along with Will Kirby. He was good with a number of other boys who held their hands up.
“It was good that Nick Staveley and Denive Balmforth came home strong. There were some others who deserved a mention, like Zack Jebson. When we put him in the middle, he really strengthened us up and gave us more grunt.”
On the performance itself, he continued: “The first five minutes of each of the halves were fantastic for us. The second-half was very spirited. It was a good response. In the first half, I just thought we lost our way very quickly, and we struggled to cope with one or two Bradford boys. There’s some big boys there, and that’s their third friendly.
“Our young boys were a bit shell-shocked and on the back foot with not only the speed of the game but the ruck and the conditions. Our opponents played much better in the first half than us.
“We had a talk about it at half-time, and we weren’t happy with the situation, so we decided to do something about it, and we did. They went out there and did a really good job.”
Smith added: “I thought we bent our backs a lot more defensively in the second half and earned the right to control and cause a few errors. I don’t think we put any pressure on our opponents in the first half when we didn’t have the ball.
“I said at full-time there’s a lot to be encouraged about the second half. At half-time, it was a very quiet dressing room because we weren’t performing very well. After the game, there was a nice buzz. We didn’t win, but it was a very spirited effort, and to come back in the manner in which we did was very encouraging.
“I understand that Bradford took a few of their more experienced players off later in the game, and it was more of an even contest in terms of age groups, but it was a good experience for our boys, and to take lessons in both halves is very pleasing.”
Smith heaped particular praise on the six current academy players who featured in the match.
“I thought they were terrific—all six of them. They enjoyed it. I thought our bench actually helped us when they came on. They lifted us. Some of those young blokes were making their first outing in a senior game. They gave a really good account of themselves.
“It’s encouraging. We’ve got plenty more work to do there, but it’s encouraging for those young players to get a crack at it. It’s good for the club to push those players through and help them develop. It’s certainly the way we’re going to go in the future.”
Looking ahead to next week’s clash against Doncaster, he added: “We’ll be going with a new squad altogether, but certainly some of those boys have earned the right to join us next week. I’ll look forward to seeing their second outing.”
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