Warrington Wolves v Hull FC: Brett Hodgson remains in bullish mood

Hull began round 18 in fifth place and will travel to Warrington Wolves tomorrow on a run of three successive defeats.

Teams below them have Hodgson’s men in their sights, but he remains more concerned about performance than the league ladder, at this stage.

“There’s too many games left to worry about that,” said Hodgson of the possibility of missing out on a top-six finish.

“If we are playing to our potential, which we haven’t done for a number of weeks since our Covid break, I am confident we will match any team in the competition and win the majority of those games.”

Though Warrington are one of the competition’s most in-form teams, Hodgson stressed his side are “worrying about ourselves this week.”.

He said: “We, as a coaching staff, have challenged some players about finding their form.

“We aren’t playing at the level we want so it is on us as a group to make sure we get back to that level we were at in the first third of the season.

“Ultimately, it is about us this week.

“A little bit of knowledge about what Warrington does helps, but we have got to perform to the level we want.”

Hull will be bolstered by the return of Danny Houghton and Carlos Tuimavave.

Josh Bowden is also in contention and Hodgson feels having key players back will give his team a lift.

He added: “We’ve looked at a couple of things we want to improve, the little elements that will get you towards a result at the end of the 80 minutes.

“We will go into the game confident.”