Simon Grix was pleased with the way his side executed the game plan for large parts of yesterday’s 24-22 victory over Wigan Warriors.
Hull were 18-4 in front at the break thanks to first-half tries from Jack Walker, Liam Sutcliffe and Davy Litten.
Much of Hull’s early field position was down to a strong kicking game and key ball movement, which was something that pleased FC’s Interim Head Coach.
“They try to suffocate you with that line speed. I do think we’re a tough team in the sense that we’re okay to get cracked,” he said.
But Grix also added: “We will put our hands up and take those tough carries, but there’s a smarter way of doing things, and we saw that today when we negated their line speed with some ball movement and got some blokes in shape.
“We’ve been banging on about it and trying to practice it. We just haven’t had the courage to put it in the game, but we did it a lot today, especially when we were tired. That’s when you start going away, and you do go for the easier option than the tougher one. We still showed some smarts, and we still challenged them a bit.”
Despite leading 24-4 for a significant spell during the second-half, the World Champions decided they would go down swinging.
Brad O’Neill got the comeback charge up and running for the Warriors, and two late tries from Liam Marshall and Zach Eckersley whilst Davy Litten was in the sin-bin certainly had Hull sweating.
But the Black & Whites found a way to dig deep and scramble to keep Wigan at bay in the closing stages.
“They were tired. It was warm, and it was a tough game against a big pack. They’re all big men who take it out of you,” he said.
“They’ve got that leg drive, and they’re going in and through, so you’re catching them a lot.
“It’s tough work, but they showed an ability to hang in when they were tired, and there were times when young Jack Charles, Herman, etc, looked absolutely dead, but they found a way to keep moving.
“It was too close for comfort. We did do some stuff that pulled them back in on occasion, but thankfully, more often than not, we got it right.”
Simon Grix is proudly sponsored by Rowe Freight.
STORY SPONSOR
