Hull FC coach Brett Hodgson excited at early chance to challenge St Helens

The Australian is endeavouring his side are not one of those ahead of Saturday’s Channel 4 live televised contest at MKM Stadium.

Ruthless Saints are aiming for a fourth successive title and started impressively with a 28-8 destruction of Catalans Dragons in a re-match of last year’s Grand Final.

Hull began with a gritty 16-12 win in filthy conditions at Wakefield Trinity but know they will have to step up their performance further to overcome Kristian Woolf’s side.

“If you play St Helens like the way St Helens want you to play – and that’s one-out, through the middle – then they are quite physical and they will bash you,” said Hodgson.

“We’ll have a plan and encourage the players to be brave. We’ve spoken about the fact that a lot of teams are beaten before they even start the game against St Helens.

“We’ve spoken about how we cannot be that team. I’m excited by it. It’s a good test to see where we are physically and mentally.

“We have to make sure we’re disciplined and turning the ball over in the right parts of the field.

“You can play well against St Helens and still not get the result. But we’re confident we’re going in well prepared.”

Hull must do so without Jake Connor and Andre Savelio who start bans, while Manu Ma’u and Joe Cator are both still around four weeks away from fitness.

However, Hodgson is “hopeful” first-choice centres Josh Griffin and Carlos Tuimavave could return and Jamie Shaul is working to be fit in time to replace full-back Connor.

“Regardless of who goes on the pitch we need to make sure we are playing near our best,” added Hodgson.

“Our discipline was poor on Sunday and we have spoken about that. We need to be better.

“If we get a 50/50 share of possesion with Saints I’m sure we’ll be in a contest and that’s our challenge.”