Liam Sutcliffe reveals toll of Hull FC’s awful start – but they can’t wallow
LIAM Sutcliffe admits Hull FC cannot feel sorry for themselves despite a guilty feeling, otherwise more thrashings may come.
The Black and Whites face Leeds in their first home game since boss Tony Smith was sacked following a wretched run of results.
Interim Simon Grix suffered a 58-0 hammering at St Helens in his first match in charge but Sutcliffe knows sympathy will be thin on the ground.
Even though confidence is low, there is only one way the second-bottom side can get out of it.
He said: “It’s been tough. With Tony going, it’s been a hectic few weeks – we’ve had to deal with all that as well as the disappointing start to the season.
“There’s guilt there as we as players haven’t put in the performances but also the season goes on and you need to crack on really.
“It was disappointing for Tony and how we played for him but you’ve got to forget about it pretty quickly. The season won’t stop for the sake of a coach being changed.
“The run of results would’ve knocked confidence. The manner of the performances and the scorelines emphasises that and confidence is low, we’ve not played well.
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“There have been a couple of games where we’ve had efforts and bits in there but other than that, it’s been disappointing. We’ve just got to try to get on with it and keep working.”
Centre Sutcliffe, 29, will be against a few familiar faces as he takes on the side he came through at and established himself as a Super League star.
But even if FC turn it around today, the next coffee meeting with pal Ash Handley is likely to be no different.
He added: “I’m very close to Ash and we meet up for a coffee regularly. I did so last week for a catch-up.
“There are little bits of rugby spoken about but the majority of it is getting away from that side of things.
“I’m sure if we spoke about rugby, though, we’d end up talking about how both sides are doing. You’d think Hull FC and Leeds should be higher up the table, especially us.
“We wanted to give it a real crack this year, so our position is very disappointing. Beating Leeds, though, would be nice and something we can build from.”