IT may have taken a while, but Matty Davies has got himself the team he set out to have at the start of the season.

Granted, some of the changes made have been forced - season-ending injuries to import defenceman Brock Bartholomew and Hull-born forward Declan Jones are two obvious examples - but, largely, it has been a series of tweaks by Seahawks head coach Davies that has brought him to this position.

Leeds Knights continue long NIHL National grind with twin test against Hull Seah...

They head into the first of two NIHL National games against Leeds Knights in three days tonight on the back of a five-game winning streak and conscious of the fact that two regulation wins could take them to within a point of their fierce rivals.

Such a situation seemed a long way off barely a month ago when Bartholomew suffered his injury, the Seahawks stuck in seventh and a long way from emulating their fourth-place finishes of the past two seasons.

By far Davies’ most controversial call was allowing import forward Owen Sobchak to join Leeds at the turn of the year, the Canadian having been the league’s top point-scorer in 2024-25.

He has had the desired impact at Leeds with eight goals and 16 assists in 13 appearances, but it is a decision which Davies is comfortable with as the 32-year-old prepares for his first return to Hull since leaving on Wednesday night.

“If you go back just a few weeks, even I didn’t think that (catching Leeds) would be possible,” says Davies. “We were on such a bad run and it didn’t look like there was a way out of it at times, in terms of how we moved up the standings.

WE MEET AGAIN: Leeds Knights' Balint Pakozdi and Hull Seahawks' Dylan Hehir will do battle again twice this week. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

“All you can do is keep banging the drum for what you believe in and what you want the team to be like.

“I’ve always had a good idea of what kind of team could be successful in Hull. In terms of recruitment, you can be right and you can be wrong but you’ve also got to work out what your team needs.

“You can sign a really good player, but is it what that team really needs? A case in point is with Sobs (Sobchak) - yes, a really good player, not at all what we needed this year for us to be successful - and that’s just the way it is.”

Davies is purely targeting his team towards the play-offs, but with five of the Seahawks’ remaining 11 games being against the top three, he is looking forward to having an impact on who wins the regular season crown.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Owen Sobchak makes his first competitive return to Hull Seahawks since leaving for Leeds Knights in January. Picture: Kev Bland/Knights Media.

After this week’s double-header against Leeds - the two meet again at Elland Road on Friday - Hull face second-placed Sheffield Steeldogs twice as well as leaders Swindon Wildcats.

“We’ve definitely got a lot to say in the league still,” added Davies.

“We’ve got to play all of them, I think we’re strong at the minute and I don’t think anybody is going to have an easy night against us from now until the end of the season.”