Swift adds to pressure on Smith with treble
TONY Smith is prepared to drop some of his underperforming Hull stars into the reserves after yet another heavy defeat.
Hull suffered a fifth successive loss and for the third time in their last four outings shipped 50 or more points as former winger Adam Swift ran in a hat-trick of tries in Huddersfield’s 56-22 victory.
A smattering of boos greeted the full-time whistle as Hull remained above only London Broncos in the Betfred Super League standings although the Airlie Birds’ season has been blighted by a succession of injuries.
While Smith is under pressure to turn results around, the Australian feels he has the backing of the club hierarchy and the players although a couple could be taken out of the firing line soon.
The Hull head coach said: “Are they on board with me? I believe so. Am I on board with them? There are a couple that I’m questioning whether they’re able to do what we need them to do, there are a few.
“Some of them may have to go back and rebuild their game in the reserve grade. We may need to rebuild them in all sorts of ways, both physically and psychologically.
“We understand there will be some heartache along the way and we’d like it to be less and those results to improve soon. But I was brought in here to help change this culture and I will.
“When everybody tells me I can’t do something, I get more and more determined. When it all turns – and it will – then I’ll be pleased. The more I hear ‘we can’t’, (I think) ‘let’s dig in’.”
Having starred in Huddersfield’s 50-6 Challenge Cup win over Hull a fortnight ago, Swift took his tally to seven tries in two outings against his old employers after switching to the Giants late last year.
Huddersfield crossed 10 times in total while Jake Connor defied the blustery conditions to split the posts with seven of his eight conversions as the Giants recorded a third successive win.
“Defence is our problem,” added Smith. “It’s the defensive side of the game that has been our focus for a long time. Some haven’t got the confidence enough to be able to do what they want to do.
“I’m going to have find some people that can and will. We’re going to have some hurdles, bumps and hurt along the way, still, before we get right on top of that.
“We’re at that point where if some aren’t doing it at the moment, we’ll have to find the ones that come.”
Swift has a dozen tries in his last six appearances in all competitions following his 32-minute treble at the MKM Stadium in the first half, but he was withdrawn late on after taking a blow to his face.
“He’s unreal,” said Huddersfield head coach Ian Watson. “He scores some tries that you wouldn’t normally score because of how quick and elusive he is.
“You can see the benefit of his speed on the edge, it’s something we lacked massively last year. He’s a big focal point for us.
“He’s got a bit of a nasty knock to his eye which we’ll have to get checked out and see where we go from there. It’s more blurred vision, it’s just a bit of a problem where his eye is badly swollen.”
■ Willie Peters praised Matt Parcell after the hooker marked his 200th career appearance with a hat-trick of tries in the 50-10 Super League demolition of bottom side London Broncos on Friday night.
Parcell came in to start in place of the rested Jez Litten and starred as Rovers kept pace with the frontrunners.
Peters also admitted his side had struggled to repeat their first-half performance against the struggling Broncos.
Peters said: “We’ve got two very good hookers, there’s no doubt about that. We’re fortunate to have two very good hookers. We were able to rest Jez and play Matt.”
Rovers saw Sam Luckley sent to the sin bin early in the first half but kept the visitors to their only score of the period.
Peters added: “It was a really good first half. We had that 10 minutes in the bin but I was happy with how we responded.”
Peters gave a debut to Ben Reynolds 10 minutes into the second and also made positional changes and admitted his team lost their way.
He said: “We came out in the second half with a plan and we started playing more as individuals than as a team.
“We made a lot of personnel changes. Ben Reynolds was playing his first game. Ben and Mikey (Lewis) hadn’t played together.
“There were some personnel changes, and you could see that with the flow and what it looked like.
“I always say you don’t let the scoreboard dictate your performance. There was a lot to like about what we did in that first half. In the second half there was an opportunity because of the scoreboard to move some players around and it showed.”