Crooks gets his chance as injury-hit Hull turn to youngsters

The 18-year-old centre, son of Airlie Birds legend Lee, is the latest to profit from the injury crisis engulfing the KC Stadium.

Crooks made his senior bow with a 20-minute spell off the bench in Sunday’s Challenge Cup defeat to Huddersfield Giants.

However, with Jordan Turner failing to recover from an injury suffered in that match, and England centre Kirk Yeaman also sidelined, he is quickly promoted to the starting line-up for the visit of mighty Wigan Warriors.

It will be a big ask of the teenager, who faces England international Darrell Goulding, but Hull coach Peter Gentle insisted: “There is no pressure on Ben. He just needs to go out there, play his natural game and enjoy it.

“He is a talented player and while we have high hopes for him, there is no doubt his opportunity has come a bit earlier than he would have thought.

“But the experience will do him a power of good and I’m sure it will be very good for his development.

“He will come straight into the side from the start and we have full confidence in him.

“Tom Briscoe has been talking to him in training and they have been trying to build a bit of an understanding defensively.

“Ben follows Chris Green, Liam Kent and Josh Bowden in getting their first-team debut against Super League opposition and it augurs well for the future of the club.

“That’s the upside of the number of injuries we have to senior players in the squad at the moment. We have been able to take the opportunity to get some game time into the younger players and they are going to be better and hungrier for it.

“We’ve had a good look at them and they’ve had a taste of first grade rugby, and that’s crucial if we want to build a really strong squad here over the next few years.”

Despite their injury problems, fourth-placed Hull remain in touch of the Super League hierarchy and will move above Wigan if they can force a win.

Sam Tomkins remains their principal threat but Gentle added: “As good as he is – and he’s probably the best over here in Super League – we can’t afford to focus everything we do on him.

“It’s about trusting our defensive structures whoever we’re playing and that is something we’ve spoken about and worked on at training this week.”