Hull FC progress admission made but composure needed as side rue missed chances

Simon Grix believes the recent progress of his Hull FC side is 'there to see.' However, the need to execute their plays and ultimately take their chances is essential in order to take the next step on their progress chart.

The Black and Whites were left to rue missed opportunities in Saturday's 24-18 defeat to Warrington Wolves. In what was a spirited and more connected team display, the sort that is a substantial improvement from two or so months ago, Hull had the better of the field position but couldn't land the decisive blows in good ball sets.

That's what cost them the game, with Wire full-back Matt Dufty landing the winning try in the final minutes to snatch the two Super League competition points. Before that, Hull had rallied to level the game, despite losing Cam Scott, Jack Ashworth, and Ligi Sao to knocks.

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They didn't let those adversities faze them, and they left everything out there as they aimed for back-to-back wins. And while pleased with the energy and effort of his side, it's ultimately such execution for Grix that is now the key going forward.

Speaking post-match, he said: "I think everyone can see that we've got better, but it's that trap of not thinking that it's just going to happen next time out. We had two to three good games in the first instance, and then we fell off a cliff against London. We've managed to get ourselves to look like we're going that way again.

"We won't get too excited by that; we're not getting the points, but I do think we're showing some signs that we're not down and out. There's still a bit of fight in us yet.

"It's just execution, and that's on both sides of the ball. We need to do our job. Sometimes we have to put ourselves in positions we don't want to be in. That's what the best players and the best teams do when they need to. We need to make sure we're putting ourselves in a spot where we can make the right decision more often."

Elaborating further, Grix thought his side went away from what they practiced leading up to the game, with a little key composure lacking when attacking the Warrington line.

"The best half-backs are those who play one or two plays in front," Grix explained. "We were playing it as the ball had been played. We weren't calling it quite as late as that, but we weren't getting ahead and planning what we were doing. It was more like we had landed there and we'd do this, which is not what we practiced.

"We were quite deliberate in what we wanted to do. We got it on a couple of occasions, and we were close to getting in. Had we done it more and more, the chances are we would have gotten a bit of joy from it. It's just lessons all of the time.

"We've had a lot of change this year, and on a weekly basis at times. We're not quite where we want to be with all of that, but the longer and deeper we go into it, if we keep the effort and energy in the right place, then we'll keep giving ourselves more chances, and hopefully, we can come out on the right side of it.

"It's all learning, win or lose, but you learn either way. We need to learn our lessons from that one. The main one is to apply ourselves and make sure what we're practicing in training comes out on the field more often than not."

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