Gentle eager to see a quick response as Wigan take it easy for final repeat

The sides meet in Super League’s penultimate regular round at DW Stadium just six days after Wigan ruined the East Yorkshire club’s hopes of silverware at Wembley.

Shaun Wane has opted to leave out 11 players from that record-extending 19th Challenge Cup final win, including captain Sean O’Loughlin, England star Sam Tomkins, Lance Todd Trophy winner Matty Smith and leading try-scorer Josh Charnley.

A plethora of youngsters feature instead but Gentle insisted: “Wigan are a professional outfit and whatever they put in front of us will be good. The players they are bringing in have plenty of first grade experience.

“I think Wigan won’t change anything and will bring the same aggressive attitude in defence.

“Defensively, we need to be better in a few areas while, obviously, there is a lot for us to work on in our attack.”

Hull can only dream of being able to rest players but they have to make changes through necessity with four of their pack either injured or banned after the 16-0 loss at Wembley.

“We are a bit light and anyone who is fit is playing,” added Gentle. “But what it’s given is an opportunity to freshen things up with guys who haven’t played a lot of footy in the last few months.

“Liam Kent, Josh Bowden, Paul Johnson and Dean Hadley come in and I’m looking forward to seeing the young guys out there.

“They’ve waited for a chance and have got it now. They are ready.”

The lacklustre manner of that Challenge Cup final was particularly sobering and, so, the Australian is eager to see an immediate response.

“We didn’t hold the ball long enough to build any sort of pressure,” recalled Gentle. “It’s been a problem all season, the amount of tackling we are doing and it climaxed in the final. We have to learn to share possession. We did it earlier in the season and when we did so we beat Warrington twice and Leeds.

“When it is stacked against you, through your own fault, you’ll struggle to beat any side.”