The Stats Zone
February 24 2023, 18:00 · Ash Wheldon

What do Hull FC have to do to beat Leeds Rhinos?

What do Hull FC have to do to beat Leeds Rhinos?

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Hull FC got their new era under Tony Smith off to a solid start as they defeated Castleford Tigers last week. On the other hand, Leeds Rhinos were extremely poor in their loss to Warrington Wolves and TSZ has explored three reasons why the Rhinos could in for further pain here:

DWYER TO HAUNT HIS FORMER CLUB

Hull looked nippy out of dummy half last week with Brad Dwyer adding some pace from behind the ruck. He played a big hand in getting his new side up the field on debut and there is more to come from the live-wire. Dwyer will face former club Leeds for the first time since departing the Rhinos at the end of last season and having shown his qualify with an excellent show-and-go to create a long-range try for the Black and Whites last week, Dwyer could be the catalyst to lead Hull to victory here.

PACKS THE DIFFERENCE

Leeds were bullied by Warrington’s pack last week and Hull will surely target the Rhinos’ middles once again. The Leeds pack looked small and with a lack of aggression that the sidelined James Bentley and Mikolaj Oledzki could bring, it will be down to last week’s forwards to turn things around here. Hull boast some big boppers with Chris Satae capable of causing plenty of damage and with Andre Savelio potentially being added to their pack, it will be another big body for the Rhinos to handle. That is something which they may struggle to achieve with the aforementioned Dwyer likely to relish playing behind a ruck that Leeds may not be able to slow down.

NO MORE HEADINGLEY HOODOO

Hull used to be renowned for struggling at Headingley and went on an extremely long run without a win at the West Yorkshire ground. However, FC have managed to banish that hoodoo and no longer fear travelling to face the Rhinos. In fact, with four wins on their last five visits to Leeds, they have shown that they no longer fear travelling to Headingley.