MATTY DAVIES knew exactly what he was getting when he managed to convince Dave Phillips to come ‘home’ to Hull Seahawks. He has not been disappointed.

The 37-year-old GB international’s summer switch from the Elite League to NIHL National was something of a coup for Davies, a former team-mate of Phillips’ at both Hull Stingrays and Manchester Storm.

At the recent Winter Olympics qualifiers in Denmark, Phillips comfortably showed he still has what it takes to compete at the higher levels of the game.

But his domestic future lies closer to home with the Seahawks.

MAIN MAN: Dave Phillips has provided exactly what Hull Seahawks' head coach Matty Davies was looking for. Picture: Seahawks Media/Adam Everitt.

placeholder image — MAIN MAN: Dave Phillips has provided exactly what Hull Seahawks' head coach Matty Davies was looking for. Picture: Seahawks Media/Adam Everitt.

For many, Hull’s standout players last season came on the back-end, in the shape of Declan Balmer and import Brock Bartholomew.

Both are now gone, placing greater responsibility on Phillips, as well as some of his younger defensive colleagues, who are expected to step up and help plug the gap.

So far, that is exactly what has occurred, the Seahawks sitting pretty at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday’s trip to Romford Raiders with four wins from as many games.

Key to that good start has been Phillips – who has also been installed as part of the coaching team around Davies – and his influence on those around him.

“Overall, the experience Dave has is invaluable, at this level especially,” said Davies. “There is probably nobody who has played the number of games at the level that Dave has played, so that just gives your team that added quality in general.

“But I think what we have found with Dave is that his skating has always been a big plus for him, the way he can close the gap really is elite and, like I’ve said, losing Dec and Brock is obviously a loss but when you bring somebody like Dave in, defensively I just feel we look a lot more solid.

“He’s a Hull lad, he cares about the club and he wants the club to do well which is another plus-point for us.

“He’s going to be a big player for us and I’ve got to be smart about how I manage Dave.

"It’s a lot of minutes (for one man) but another part of our team is having enough good D-men and being able to spread those minutes more evenly and we have that.”