John Cartwright has reflected on his side’s defeat to Leeds Rhinos on Saturday afternoon.
The Black & Whites were well beaten by Brad Arthur’s side, going down 34-0 at the MKM Stadium.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Cartwright said: “In a lot of ways, I think it showed the quality of the opposition we were playing against. We had the better of the game at the 20-minute mark and that’s when the rot set in.
“Those periods of the game we’ve been really good at dealing with when a bit of momentum goes against us, but we had to be near perfect today, and especially when things unfolded the way that they did.
“In the first twenty minutes, I don’t think we played all that smart, but we were perfect with the ball (in terms of completion). We put them into corners and we defended really well.
“It was then on the back of three errors, two intercepts, and a pass that went to ground, and they capitalised and scored their points. That pretty much took the game away from us.
“The game really unfolded in that period. In the second half, we had no interchanges to call on. They tried hard; they thought hard, but I don’t think we played well with the ball. I think we can do a lot better, but again, at the 20-minute mark it was 0-0, we had field position, we coughed up the ball and they scored a try. It was all Leeds from that moment.”
He added: “It was going to be hard today, it was hard last week, and it’s no different next week/ We’ve now got a game that means a hell of a lot to the club and our supporters.
“There’s no lack of motivation there to go and do well. We’ve just got to cop our medicine there. I thought there were periods of the game where we had the ball and we didn’t do what we practiced. We could have been a lot better.
“I can understand we were chasing the game. We were 24-0 down at half-time, but you’ve still got to stick to what you practice, and then good things happen off the back of that.”
Cartwright also provided an update on Hull’s injury concerns after the game,
“I don’t know with Herman. It’s a lower leg injury and he can’t put any weight on it. I haven’t spoken to the doctors or the physios yet. We’ll know more next week.”
On Chamberlain, Cust, and Watts, Cartwright continued: “Ed has done a hammy, by the looks of it. Cade has got a bit of a back issue. Wattsy is tight there and we’ll have to check that through the week. Those are the main ones.”
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