Hull FC star in awe of crazy Super League season but unpredictability comes with warning
Hull FC forward Joe Cator is taken aback by the crazy nature of the current Super League season. A tipster's nightmare, the rounds are getting harder and harder to predict, with literally every team in the competition, top or bottom, beating each other.
However, that means that every team has to be on their guard every week, with Hull facing Castleford this Saturday afternoon. The Black and Whites will be fancied to win that one and will start as favourites after being the underdog in recent meetings with St Helens, Catalans, and Hull KR.
Cator, meanwhile, knows the importance of having the right attitude, with mentality being a big word for the 25-year-old going into the game at the MKM Stadium. Chasing the top six, Hull need to pick up two points, but they know that in this unorthodox year, only their best will do.
"How good is it for the neutral? It's brilliant, isn't it?" Cator told Hull Live. "I sit in on a Thursday and Friday night watching Sky Sports. You never know which way the game is going to go. It's class.
"I don't think we've had a season like this in a long while. It's really good to watch, but on the flip side, that means there are no easy games at all. There's no one you can look at and say, 'That's a banker.'
"Every team poses different threats, and when they're on, they're dangerous. We need to make sure that we're going into every game with the right mentality to try and get the two points, as ultimately, that's what you get judged on."
Hull have nine games left to sneak into the top six positions, but they know they must improve on their derby display. The Black and Whites perhaps got caught up in the emotions against their local rivals, but they still ran out 16-6 winners, avenging Good Friday and giving their season a big boost.
The first half was a slow and hard watch, but the game sprung to life in the second, with Tony Smith changing their tactics at half-time. Cator was delighted to see those changes work, with Hull now set to face some different challenges to get on top of Andy Last's side.
"We analysed and adjusted at half-time," Cator continued. "We came out as a different team with different tactics, and it really worked for us. That's what happens every week. There are always different ways and different methods for breaking that team down.
"We know we can still be better, and we will be better. The emotions and the tensions maybe got to us, but we weren't ourselves in the first half, and we played more direct in the second half.
"We were trying to find that big cut-out pass, that money ball, and we got pushed into touch. There were simple errors. I think it was about being more direct, and you could see we were doing that in the second half.
"Swifty's first try came from Cam Scott going right down the guts of them. That paid off. That was the green light to realise the changes we made were working."
And after their derby triumph, Hull have been cautious about getting straight back to work this week, with all focus now on the Castleford game and how they can pick up another victory.
"It was good to get the win, but it's about this week now, and Castleford are a different threat," Cator added. "We've got back to it this week, and we've been working on how we can break them down."
