John Cartwright has previewed Friday’s battle against Wakefield Trinity as the Black & Whites look to continue their impressive start to the season at the DIY Kitchen’s Stadium.
The Australian’s tenure as head coach has started strongly with the Airlie Birds only tasting defeat once in their opening six competitive fixtures.
But Daryl Powell’s outfit will be a stern test for Hull, with the newly promoted also enjoying a promising start to 2025.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Cartwright said: “The memory of last weekend will fade pretty quickly if we don’t turn up and put in a performance that is going to give us a chance. But we’ve been able to do that every week so far this year, barring the Wigan game; that was really disappointing, and we don’t want to be in that position again.
“We’ve just got to keep getting better at what we do. Confidence is something that you can’t put a measure on for what it does for your team, but I can see them growing in confidence. It’s come around through sheer hard work. You don’t win games at this level through luck; you might jag one here and there, but to be consistent, it takes a lot of hard work, and they’re taking a bit of confidence out of that.
“It’s still very, very early, and we still want to get better, but that’s the key thing for me watching the players: they want to know they can get better, and they go out and work on it. It’s a good environment to be in at the moment, but there’s a long, long way to go. The challenge for us is to keep maintaining that.”
He continued: “The talk has all been about getting ready for Friday. They’re in really good form; no one has really been able to put them away yet—they’ve competed in every game that they’ve played, and they’re still alive in the Challenge Cup as well.
“They’ll be buzzing, and for us, it’s exciting to be in the cup, but it’s all been about getting ready for this weekend’s game. I think they’re going to be awfully dangerous. They’re two and two, but they beat Leeds, and they went to Warrington and won as well. They are playing good football—they like to spread the ball around, and they challenge you.
“It’s at their home ground, and both sides had good cup wins, so there’s a lot of confidence around in both camps. This is a big challenge for us as a group. We’ve addressed it already. Rugby League is such a mentally tough game; the highs and lows that you get from games like that (the win at Wigan) are hard to replicate and get back into that zone, but it’s a challenge, and it’ll be a measure of where we are as a team if we can match those levels of fight and the things that we did to get back in that game.
“Hopefully, we won’t fall behind in the first place, but it’s not easy; it is difficult. It’s something you’ve got to talk about and address, and we have, and now the hard bit is the players going out and doing it.”
Asked if the focus for his side this week was on their defensive efforts, he said: “It is every week. Statistically, in any sport, the best defensive sides usually win the big games. That’s always the goal coming in, but it’s a week-to-week thing and a work in progress, but they’re willing to do it, and they’re working really hard to get there.
“We’ve just got to be consistent—there’s no magic wand that you can wave, but there are certainly areas in all games where we can get better; where we turn the ball over to the opposition is a key one. Defensively, we are still giving up too many easy tries, and as a group, we are all aware of that and agree with that. We’re working hard on defensively getting combinations like we have with the ball in hand, but that’s just going to be a work in progress. Having different combinations in the key areas has been difficult, and there have been some guys playing out of position a little bit, but it’s something we are working really hard on.
“We’ve hardly had the same team on the paddock yet this year, which is another positive for us. It means that different players are getting chances in different positions, but hopefully we can settle on a squad and build from that moving forward, but it’s a good sign that the younger boys are coming in, doing a job, and filling in. That’s how it has to be if you want to succeed in a long season.”
John Cartwright is proudly sponsored by Solutech.
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