'Stick by us': Brett Hodgson's plea to Hull FC supporters after latest defeat

The Black and Whites are virtually out of the Super League play-off race with three rounds remaining after a familiar collapse in the second half of the season.

Friday’s home reverse against Wakefield Trinity leaves Hull in ninth spot with only two wins from their last 11 games.

It has led to comparisons with last year when Hodgson’s men won only once in their final 10 matches but the Australian is convinced the club are heading in the right direction.

“We’re definitely copping some hurt right now,” said Hodgson, who has added Tex Hoy, Jake Trueman and Liam Sutcliffe to his squad for 2023.

“We’re trying really hard to get ourselves out of it with our recruitment and the structures we’re putting in place for next year.

“Obviously we want to win games - I’d be ridiculous to suggest otherwise. I understand there’s a frustration amongst that but sometimes it’s really hard before you start moving forward.

“That’s the phase we’re in at the minute. We’re trying our hardest as a coaching staff and a playing group to make sure we come out of it.

“We’ve got three games to make sure we turn up and perform.”

Hodgson, who has been forced to chop and change all year, lost two more players to serious injuries on Friday night.

Catalans Dragons-bound Manu Ma’u has played his last game for the club after breaking his arm, while Joe Lovodua was left nursing a knee injury,

The Hull boss believes a change of luck is long overdue.

“I dare say (Melbourne Storm coach) Craig Bellamy could have stood coaching here and I don’t know whether he would have got a different result (against Wakefield),” said Hodgson, who was without 11 first-teamers from the start on Friday.

“This has been our luck since I’ve come to the club. I genuinely haven’t seen anything like this.

“We’re going through a hell of a lot of pain at the moment from the top of the club right through to the bottom. I absolutely appreciate that the supporters are hurting and they want results but realistically the injuries are not excuses, they are genuine reasons.

“I’m very mindful that it’s been many years now we’ve fallen away at the back end of the year so we’re looking at how to fix that. I’m hopeful that the lack of luck we’ve had in the last two years is coming to an end and we can progress next year.”

Hodgson has handed out eight debuts in the last seven weeks amid the club’s availability crisis.

He conceded that he has had to throw some youngsters in at the deep end but believes Hull will benefit in the long run.

Hodgson said: “As much as I want to give these debuts to the kids, if you’re going to debut a kid that’s good enough to play first grade you need 16 first-graders that have the experience to be able to help that debutant through the game.

“We just don’t have any of that at the moment. It's difficult but we want the fans to stick by us and to understand the process that we're going through."