Sunday 22 July 2018 18:57, UK
Hull FC coach Lee Radford apologised to his club's fans after taking full responsibility for their 72-10 defeat at Wakefield.
Radford admitted he gambled on the fitness of Marc Sneyd, Jamie Shaul, Fetuli Talanoa and Joe Westerman and the risk backfired in spectacular fashion as they crashed to their heaviest-ever Super League defeat.
"What could have gone wrong went wrong," said Radford. "We got the opposite of what we asked for and I take full responsibility for that defeat.
"We rolled the dice with four, perhaps five players, in terms of fitness and clearly you could see they were not quite ready to come back and compete at that level.
"I felt we had nothing to lose, our season was on the line.
We rolled the dice with four, perhaps five players, in terms of fitness and clearly you could see they were not quite ready to come back and compete at that level.
"I'm disappointed with myself. I apologise wholeheartedly to the fans and promise that we will work hard on putting some pride back in the badge on Friday night [against Hull KR].
"Rest assured I will be working hard and my staff will be working as hard as we can to right some wrongs from today."
A third-successive defeat leaves Hull seven points behind fourth-placed Castleford with an inferior points difference.
Radford conceded defeat in their bid for a semi-final spot as they prepare to complete the regular season with a derby against Hull KR at the KCOM Stadium.
"Stranger things have happened but I'm a realist and it's too big of a gap to close," he said.
"We've not got much chance to fix it on the field. It's a short turnaround against Hull KR but we've got to salvage some pride - some players, in particular, have got to salvage some pride.
"It's a fantastic opportunity to finish the 22 rounds with the bragging rights of the city."
Wakefield ran in 12 tries to run up their highest score in Super League history and secure their future in the top flight for 2019.
It also means Leeds will have to fight for their survival by competing in the Super 8s Qualifiers for the second time in three years.
"We always felt comfortable coming into this game but certainly didn't expect that scoreline," said Trinity coach Chris Chester.
"It was beyond my wildest expectations, especially when you look at the players they brought in so late yesterday but I think that kind of helped us, it gave us a focus because we knew we had to turn up today."
Wakefield made their best start to a Super League season with four straight wins but were in danger of being overtaken by fast-finishing Huddersfield and Catalans Dragons.
"The pressure has been ridiculous to be honest," said Chester. "Catalans and Huddersfield doing as well as they have and Leeds getting the result on Friday put a load of pressure on the boys but they handled it really well.
"It feels like someone has stuck in a pin in me and all the pressure has been relieved in one go.
"I thought everybody was fantastic and it was probably the best I've seen Reece Lyne play. He looked like a future international and caused Hull problems on that left edge."
