Tickle’s return threatens Hull’s unbeaten home record

The 30-year-old goal-kicking forward opted to swap Hull for Widnes Vikings over the winter after spending six years in the East Riding.

He has made a swift impact, chalking up 24 points on his debut – posting a try and 10 goals from 11 attempts – in a 64-10 win over London Broncos.

Tickle picked up a dead leg in last Friday’s defeat at Leeds Rhinos – the Vikings’ first loss of the season – but Radford is expecting to face his former colleague on Sunday.

“Danny Tickle is their talisman and is doing a lot of work like he did at this club for a long period of time,” said Radford.

“He’s carrying a dead leg at the minute and is 50/50 but, knowing Ticks, he’ll move heaven and earth to get on the field Sunday.

“We know what he brings, he’s a fantastic professional, a massive loss to our club and I would love to have had him here with us.

“Unfortunately that’s not the case,” he lamented.

“Widnes have had a good start but they are in form and have started the season well. They have some tidy players and they have signed well. They started the season with some home games and made the most of that.

“Kevin Brown is very influential for them. We have a big job to do on our left edge, which is the one which is getting three times the traffic at the minute to the opposite side.”

Radford has his own team selection problems, as he is down to just two fit props – with Micky Paea banned – but is hoping Feka Paleaaesina will be fit to play.

“We are hoping Feka pulls through for Sunday which will give us sufficent cover up there,” said Radford.

“We’re not denying the fact we are short of numbers, but what we have is a situation that tests your squad and gives an opportunity for some of our blokes to seize an opportunity.

“We put Gareth Ellis in the middle for a period of the game last week and I thought he did really well, so there’s no doubt he’ll have to go up there again this week.”

Hull have won both their home games so far – against Catalan Dragons and Bradford Bulls – but lost away to St Helens, Warrington Wolves and Castleford Tigers.

They now have a run of four successive games at the KC Stadium, not that Radford is reading too much into that.

“When you take the season as a whole every week and every two points is important,” Radford said.

“But when you look at the losses we’ve had, the run of games at home is very important.

“We want to win every week though and just because we are at home it doesn’t become any more important.”

Super League champions Wigan condemned error-ridden Warrington to a second home defeat in three matches in last night’s Grand Final re-match.

England second-row Liam Farrell scored one try and sent acting captain Blake Green over for another as Wigan won 12-4