{"id":1118890,"date":"2026-07-29T22:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1118890\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T22:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:14:15","slug":"andy-last-hits-back-at-hull-fc-unfit-claims-and-airs-herman-eseese-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1118890\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Last hits back at Hull FC &#8216;unfit&#8217; claims and airs Herman Ese&#8217;ese defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The interim coach has aired an alternative view on Hull FC&#8217;s fitness.<\/p>\n<p>19:45, 29 Jul 2026Updated 19:53, 29 Jul 2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Hull FC prop Herman Ese'ese. \" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1_AM2_2402.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Hull FC prop Herman Ese'ese. \" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Hull FC prop Herman Ese&#8217;ese. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Andy Last has hit back at claims that his Hull FC side are &#8216;unfit&#8217; and has offered a counterargument to why they look gassed in matches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Black and Whites fatigued quickly against Hull KR in the derby last Thursday night. They took a 12-0 lead and were unable to sustain that level, with the Robins soon grabbing a stranglehold of the contest, dominating field position and ultimately the scoreboard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">But Last doesn&#8217;t believe that reality was down to Hull&#8217;s fitness, which has been pointed out at several stages of the season after a disrupted pre-season and ongoing injury crisis, and instead has aired an alternative reason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;No, I wouldn&#8217;t say so,&#8221; Last responded when asked if his side are unfit. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s down to the momentum of the games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I think with the new rules, momentums can change very, very quickly, and when the momentum goes against you, it&#8217;s very hard to get it back. You watch NRL games and once a team gets momentum, before you know it, it can be 50 points and you\u2019ve lost the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I think that\u2019s something that we as a team and I think generally in Super League, all teams are finding when an opposition has the momentum; it\u2019s very, very difficult to grab it back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;So, when you\u2019ve got the momentum, it\u2019s really important that you concentrate and don\u2019t be that person who makes the error which takes the momentum from you and gives it to the opposition and then likewise, you\u2019ve just got to bite down on your gum shield a little bit harder when the team has the momentum against you and find a way to grab it back and grab it back quickly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Last also defended prop Herman Ese&#8217;ese, who has been criticised recently for his fitness following his return from a nine-month Achilles tendon injury. Ese&#8217;ese is now eight games into his comeback \u2013 playing games from the start and from the interchange.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;It\u2019s his first long-term injury, a lower limb injury, an Achilles injury,&#8221; Last said. &#8220;By nature, obviously Herman\u2019s a big guy so it\u2019s taken him probably a little bit longer than he probably expected to come back from that injury but he\u2019s working away in the background.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;It is very, very challenging playing in the Super League, but Herman knows obviously what he needs to work on and he\u2019ll certainly do that and he\u2019ll be better for it moving forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The interim coach has aired an alternative view on Hull FC&#8217;s fitness. 19:45, 29 Jul 2026Updated 19:53, 29&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1118891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4102],"tags":[255042,127714,115424,4151,6531,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1118890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-andy-last","tag-herman-eseese","tag-hull-fc","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117005575047898689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1118890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1118890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1118891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1118890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1118890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1118890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}