‘We are all hurting’ - Hull coach Brett Hodgson struggles to explain derby thrashing by Leeds Rhinos

Hull scored three tries, which was an improvement on recent weeks, but conceded 11.

After fighting back from 12-0 and 22-10 down to trail by only six early in the second half, they collapsed as Rhinos ran in 36 points in the final 26 minutes.

It was Hull’s heaviest defeat by Leeds and a run of four successive losses has left their top six hopes in serious jeopardy.

“We are all hurting,” admitted Hodgson after the game.

“I am sure the fans are and the club in general. I don’t think we started with great intent.

“We gave away two soft tries early, got our way back into it and again the tries we conceded late in the first half weren’t good enough.

“We found a way to get ourselves back into the game in the second half and I thought we were coming back strong, then the last 25 minutes, I genuinely don’t have a reason for that at the moment.”

Hodgson noted: “They had, I think, 13 or 15 sets from that moment.

“We couldn’t get the ball back, but we weren’t willing to do enough to stop them scoring and that’s hugely disappointing.”

Mistakes and penalties let Leeds strike back on the two occasions Hull seemed to be fighting their way back into the contest.

“We’ve got some players out of position and some injured throughout the club,” Hodgson said.

“It is difficult to get through those moments, especially when you don’t have leadership on the field.

“We have got a lot of senior players not playing and we lacked some senior players to grab a hold of the last 25 minutes.”