St Helens v Hull FC: Buoyant Airlie Birds coach Lee Radford spoilt for choice ahead of Saints test

HULL FC head coach Lee Radford has spoken of the need for his returning senior players to 'energise' his squad in order to secure a fourth straight win tonight.
IN THE FRAME: Mahe Fonua returns for Hull FC to face St Helens on Friday night. Picture: Jonathan GawthorpeIN THE FRAME: Mahe Fonua returns for Hull FC to face St Helens on Friday night. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
IN THE FRAME: Mahe Fonua returns for Hull FC to face St Helens on Friday night. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

They head to St Helens as one of the few sides to produce a 100 per cent return over Easter, defeating Hull KR and then Super League leaders Warrington Wolves.

Given that last success came with a relatively youthful side, Radford has the luxury of bringing back five regular first-teamers this evening, which should increase their chance of continuing their recent revival.

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Stand-off Carlos Tuimavave returns after suffering a concussion in the derby while former Penrith Panthers second-row Sika Manu missed both Easter games due to illness.

Australian back-row Mark Minichiello, ex-Melbourne Storm winger Mahe Fonua and Kiwi forward Frank Pritchard all sat out the Easter Monday Warrington game so Hull are well-set.

Radford said: “It’s not been a too difficult team selection. In the back of my mind I’ve always had a plan of how long I was going to give certain players.

“Obviously the flip side to that is if we start losing that goes out of the window. We put something in place of using our whole squad over this period and that will obviously come to fruition on Friday night again.

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“Hopefully, those seniors who didn’t play on Monday can energize the group.

“They’ve had a week’s preparation for this game and it’s really important they turn up and up the energy to what’s required to beat St Helens.

“We knew we had a deep squad in pre-season and have seen that over the last two games; I think it’s important we cap this period off with another solid performance at Saints.”

St Helens have suffered a setback with prolific winger Tommy Makinson being ruled out for the rest of the season having injured his knee during Monday’s win over Widnes.

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He broke his leg last term, too, but the hosts remain one of Super League’s leading sides.

“It’s going to need to be a strong effort because we are going to a team who are on the same points and obviously aspiring to finish ahead of us,” added Radford.

“They are a physical side. For us we have to move some of those (big) blokes about and put some mileage on their clock.

“Inevitably when some cracks start to appear we have to make sure we stay on them. We poked our nose through against Warrington quite a bit, but had too many blokes on their heels.”

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Meanwhile, Radford admitted his regulars now know competition is tough after so many of Hull’s fringe players – two-try winger Curtis Naughton, powerful second-row Dean Hadley and 20-year-old forward Jansin Turgut – performed so admirably against Warrington.

“We’re carrying knocks but players are putting their hands up to be selected,” he said. “They want to feature and not lose their spot as the kids have been performing well in there.”