Wakefield Trinity’s Willie Poching aims to give Hull FC rival Brett Hodgson tough start to season

Poching was Warrington Wolves assistant coach when star Australian full-back Hodgson played for the club between 2011 and 2013.

They would sometimes commute together from their West Yorkshire homes in a decorated period when Warrington claimed the Challenge Cup, the League Leaders’ Shield and reached two Grand Finals.

But now both are in their first appointment as Super League head coaches, Poching having made such a positive impression when taking over from Chris Chester last August and ex-New South Wales State of Origin star Hodgson embarking on his second campaign at Hull.

New Zealand-born Poching, who, aged 48 is five years his rival’s senior, recalled: “It was good (coaching him).

“I didn’t know Brett at all until we worked together at Warrington.

“Every now and again, because of the distance, I’d jump in with the players for the Captain’s Run and we’d share the driving.

“There’d be David Solomona, Simon Grix, sometimes Gaz Carvell and then we’d pick Chris Bridge up along the way. There were a lot of laughs. A lot of good times.

“Brett was a character. But on the field, he just knew how to play the game; you could see that he had that football presence and nous and it made for a deadly combination him and Lee Briers together as they were two rare players.

“There aren’t many around of that ilk of player who can just play off the cuff and read the play.

“Brett probably wasn’t the most athletic rugby league player, or the biggest or the strongest.

“But he just knew how to work his craft as a full-back. That’s why he was able to play State of Origin, win Grand Finals, be a Man of Steel and play as long as he did.

“He’s taken all that experience and that knowledge and everything that he’s learned from people around him – as we do as coaches – and he’s channelled that into hopefully a successful coaching career himself.

“Hull had a great start to their season last year and a few challenges back end but I’m no doubt those challenges will make him better and stronger as a coach.”

Some of those “challenges” Poching refers to are the fact that, for myriad reasons, Hull lost nine of their last 10 games in 2021 including being swept aside 44-12 by Trinity at Belle Vue in the final fixture.

With that in mind, as this new season gets underway, there will be more pressure on Hodgson, who turns 44 on Saturday.

Hull have made some key signings, not least England scrum-half Luke Gale from Leeds Rhinos, but they are already beset by injury issues heading into the opening round.

“It’s important we fire as best we can on Sunday afternoon regardless of what (team) they put out and the rumours going around,” insisted Poching.

“We’re preparing for the best Black and Whites side to come here and put up a challenge.

“They are a year down the track with their coach and have had a second pre-season.

“They have lost players and he’s made some changes, brought new guys into their squad, so there is a little bit of the unknown.

“But we’re excited about getting started. We’ve had a couple of months to get ourselves ready for this.”

In contrast to Hodgson, Poching’s main issue is deciding who to leave out of his squad.

Only long-term injuries Bill Tupou, Lee Kershaw and Jack Croft are unavailable.

“It is tricky,” said the coach.

“It always is. We’ve still got to put some polish on it but even (selecting) the squad of 21 was difficult. We’ve been having some tough conversations with some players.

“You’re letting people down but you just have to be as honest as you can and truthful. “

Asked if he has been sleeping well, he said: “Not really!

“The weekend was tough trying to sort out combinations and figure out squads.

“There’s been a couple of tough conversations and there’s a couple more to be had and that will probably cause me a little bit more sleepless (nights). But I expected that. It’s part and parcel of the job.”