Brett Hodgson has once again hailed the defensive efforts of the Black & Whites as they defeated Leeds Rhinos in a gruelling encounter at Emerald Headingley Stadium last night.
Hull survived a barrage of attacks from the Rhinos and defended their try-line with guts and determination in a wet second-half as they held on to down Richard Agar’s side 18-12.
Hull’s third win of the season at Headingley, Hodgson explained the victory was once again down to his side’s defensive improvements in 2021.
Speaking after the match on his side’s defensive efforts once again, Hodgson said: “I’m really proud of the effort. We obviously couldn’t hold much possession in that second-half and we kept allowing them the chance to attack our try-line, but our resilience to work for each other and defend our line under all circumstances was outstanding.
“We’ve spoken about it a lot of times, but we’ve done a lot of work on our try-line defence and our resilience and holding our defensive line. We gave them too many chances but we still held firm, and to concede only six points having given that much possession, I wouldn’t be surprised if we made 50 or 60 defensive plays in our own 20 in that second-half.
He added: “I’m feeling tired and exhausted after that one – I feel like I’ve played eighty minutes myself!”
Hodgson also explained his side showed good game management in some poor conditions at times during the match, as well as the important task of keeping Leeds’ key men quiet on the night.
“We showed some good game management at times in those conditions, particularly in the first-half. Sneydy, Grub, and Jake did a good job of getting us back into the contest after conceding early on, and Griff had some pivotal moments in the first-half too. We couldn’t build any field position in the second-half.
“We kept their key men quiet. Luke Gale had his hands on the ball a lot, Richie Myler too, but thankfully they made a couple of errors at pivotal times in the game which allowed us to get a bit of a rest.”
Hodgson also heaped praise on Adam Swift, with the in-form winger bagging another two tries to add to his 2021 tally.
“I’m really happy with what he is doing. He’s doing the tough stuff as well which we have asked of him including taking some hard carries, and finishing off his opportunities well.
“I’ve got to give credit to Mahe Fonua as well. I thought his carried out of yardage were outstanding and his defence was outstanding as well. Our back-field is looking strong at the moment.”
He also praised his forwards for their effort in the match adding: “Our middles at the moment are doing an incredible job and that allows our halves to do their job to the best of their ability. “
And Hodgson explained the important of the result given the Black & Whites went down to Catalans Dragons last week.
“It was important to respond to the defeat last week, although I didn’t think we were miles off last week. We held our own for 65 minutes of that game so I wasn’t too concerned about the performance as a whole. But we learnt some lessons in not being able to perform for eighty minutes and we showed we could do that tonight.”
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