Hull FC coach Andy Last gives early hint at his derby line-up for Hull KR

Ahead of his first derby in charge of his hometown club, Last has a number of selection dilemmas, not least regarding the No1 position after Jamie Shaul was ruled out for nine months with a ruptured ACL.

England centre Jake Connor would be an obvious choice to drop in there for the game against Hull KR but he has been excelling at stand-off of late and Albert Kelly is unavailable.

Last said: "I'm going to look to keep Jake in the half-back position with Sneydy.

"We'll probably put Griff in that full-back spot. He's done that exceptionally well for us.

"He's a strong ball-carrier and he keeps the momentum that Marc and Jake are building a s half-back pairing and I think that's important.

"Your half-back pairing - the guys who navigate the ship so to speak - the combination that they are building as a pair is something we can get excited about.

"We've seen some real positive steps taken by them both. I'm looking forward to seeing them continue that in the half-back positions."

Last is spoilt for choice in the back-row with in-form Jordan Lane available again after testing positive for Covid and Great Britain international Josh Jones included in the 21-man squad for the first time since being struck down by the virus in August.

Last said: "There's some tough decisions to make.

"The quality we have in the back-row in terms of Andre Savelio, Manu Ma'u, Jordan Lane and Josh Jones - you can even throw Josh Griffin in to that scenario - are all equally talented players.

"Laney was arguably our best player for five or six weeks. He was really, treally starting to make that left back-row starting spot his own but unfortunately he's missed three games because of Covid.

"Andre and Manu have played exceptionally well when stepping in. It would be tough to change the dynamic of the back-row too much when you consider how well both those two have played.

"It's a tough one on Laney but he understands the reasons why we're sticking with Andre and Manu in those positions."