Steve Price assesses our play-off defeat to Hull FC.

Steve, can you sum up the disappointment?

It is hard at the moment. We felt as a group we have got it right in the last couple of weeks with our training and our intensity. I thought we started pretty positive. We got a bit unlucky with the Jack Hughes strip and Naulago play the ball and they score next set. At the end of the day they were better than us tonight and the standards we set ourselves as a club we didn’t hit which was disappointing. We have a lot of people in that changing room who are gutted. I thought we had a good opportunity this year but we just weren’t good enough tonight and beaten by a really good Hull FC team.

Can you tell us about the standards you set but didn’t reach tonight?

It is the small efforts in big games. I thought that set after half time, it was a reset and then they scored on our left edge and that is just unacceptable in our eyes as a defensive unit. We got back in the game and started playing some reasonable footy. We got the try over on the left edge through Matty Ashton and I thought it was game on, but we just couldn’t execute the game plan we set ourselves through the week. We put ourselves in a position, but it just got too far away from us.

Why do you think you couldn’t execute the game plan at that stage?

There were a few unforced errors by us which you could say is uncharacteristic and we have to look at that and hold ourselves accountable as a coaching group and a playing group, which we will address.

I think Hull had 100% completion rate in that first half and they controlled the ruck better than us, so we couldn’t generate any ruck speed to get over the top of them and play at them. I think at times they did that and Marc Sneyd’s kicking game was just superior.

Did you feel you had enough ball and territory just you couldn’t get points on the ball?

Yes, you could say that. We had chances especially on the right side. We had that chance with Gells (Anthony Gelling) and on that left side with Matty Ashton.

It is upsetting at the moment because we set high standards as a club and we didn’t hit them tonight.

You mainly used 15 men tonight, so you felt those guys could do the job?

Yes, I did, that wasn’t the reason why we lost tonight. The big plays and big moments need to be better and we just weren’t good enough tonight.

Did you think the lack of game time in the last month played a part in tonight’s defeat?

No, I won’t accept that, and it is totally incorrect. We felt we had our training, intensity and loads right and trained really hard through the block. Our last game does feel a while ago, but that is no excuse.

You are in a strange position as you are on standby in case a team is affected by Covid.

Yes, we have testing on Monday and are on standby. I hope all the clubs aren’t affected because it would be a bad way to go through. Credit to Hull FC as they played a good game.

It must be strange to get the lads up for a game which may not happen.

Yes, it will be, and it is different, but that is the year it has been. There have been a lot of curveballs this year, but the players have been class throughout the pandemic. We came back after Covid and I thought we played some really good footy through that nine-week block when we won a few games, it is just unfortunate we didn’t live up to the expectations we set ourselves.

How do you reflect on the season? Do you take any successes out of it or does it ultimately go down as a failure?

There has been some really good moments. I thought the period after coming back there were some good moments. The players had really good standards and I thought we played some really good football. We had some good battles against Saints and went out the Challenge Cup to Salford. We then put ourselves in a position to fight for the league leaders with St Helens and Wigan and it is unfortunate it got cut short by two games.

We need to be better. It is tough at the moment to take as a performance consistently we weren’t good enough for the majority of the game.

How do you make this team better? You’ve been in the position but not good enough in these types of games, how do you make the side better in these situations?

As a collective and as a coaching group we need to look at that in the off-season. A lot of our senior players need to do that too and we need to put our hand up. As a collective, as a team and a club we have an off-season to think about that.

Did we see how important Mike Cooper is to the club tonight?

Yes, he was missed, and he has been fantastic all season. He is one of our leaders of our forward pack and he has played some tough, hard football for us. He has played to a good standard in our group. It did show tonight we did miss him and it is unfortunate the big fella could not play tonight.

Price's verdict on play-off defeat