Gareth Ellis - It was great to sing Old Faithful again - it’s been far too long since Hull FC did

IT was great to sing Old Faithful again last night for the first time in almost six months.

After everything that has happened – our big loss against Salford Red Devils three weeks before, then the shutdown due to Covid – I could sense there was a little bit of nervousness and edginess to us in the dressing room before the game against Huddersfield Giants.

I think people thought we might be rusty.

But once we got out there it was the exact opposite of that once we got going.

We were 28-0 up in about half-an-hour and I thought we were very clinical which made such a difference.

We completed at a really high percentage and it really made sure that we were the ones in the ascendancy and Huddersfield were on the backfoot. As it’s shown in previous games with the new rules, that can happen.

Once you get that momentum and that foot in the door and with the clinical nature we showed, we racked up some points.

However, the pleasing thing was the way we dug in after that and held firm to get that result when Giants came back at us especially in the second period.

That’s the thing that has been questioned about us from the outside and questioned from the inside as well – do we have that desire and fighting spirit?

I thought it was there in abundance last night, even to the point when we were down a man when Mahe (Fonua) got sin-binned, we felt pretty comfortable with 12 men because of the energy we showed even late on in the game.

That was good to see. It has been a tough few weeks for the club and it’s nice to see them come through with smiles on everyone’s face again and not feeling sorry for ourselves.

What I also enjoyed was playing in that pack alongside so many young forwards

I was really excited before the game when we got an inkling during the week of who was going to be playing and who wasn’t.

As, shall we say, an elder member of the squad, I was excited to be playing alongside people like Jack Brown and Joe Cator who I thought were absolutely outstanding.

It’s their enthusiasm which I think was the difference, their energy they showed to do all the little things right that are then so important to the other stuff. I did think that made the big difference and it was really pleasing to see them both go so well and take their chance which is what has been asked of them by Lasty [coach Andy Last].

Obviously, it’s great to get the win last night but the important thing is we don’t fall in love with ourselves or get ahead of ourselves.

It’s one week and a step in the right direction. We’ve put some things right that we thought we let ourselves down with a few weeks ago against Salford so it’s definitely a matter of making sure that’s the message.

As the games come thick and fast the squad is going to be very important over the next few weeks and everyone will need to play their part and be ready to play their part.

We’ve got Warrington Wolves on Friday and we know what they can do.

We saw what they did to Wakefield Trinity last night, too, so it is important we now back up what we did yesterday and the work starts again.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.

Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers.

So, please - if you can - pay for our work. Just £5 per month is the starting point. If you think that which we are trying to achieve is worth more, you can pay us what you think we are worth. By doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly rare. Independent journalism that cares less about right and left and more about right and wrong. Journalism you can trust.

Thank you

James Mitchinson