Peter Gentle: Hull FC's emphatic win at York shows strength of youth policy

PETER Gentle says Hull FC’s emphatic 60-14 victory at York underlines his belief the club are heading in the right direction with their youth policy.

Hull ran out easy winners at the Huntington Stadium, scoring 11 tries as a youthful side with a handful of senior players proved too strong for their Championship opponents.

Gentle used the club’s final pre-season friendly to get what he called necessary game time into Richard Horne, Richard Whiting and Paul Johnson, who all came through unscathed.

With his primary objective accomplished, Gentle praised the eight under-19s players who featured, saying their performance was evidence the club has a bright future.

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“We have some good boys coming through and this game confirms what we are doing and that this club is heading in the right direction,” Gentle told the Mail.

“The under-19s players did really well for us and are making great progress. What is exciting is we have another great bunch behind those guys who will also get their chance at some stage in the future.

“We came here with a pretty strong side and we got some good minutes into the players that needed it. We have come out injury free and that was important too. But the biggest positive from this game is how well our youngsters did.

“It was a day they’ll remember forever and they didn’t look out of place. We know we have some good kids coming through and what we have to do is look after them in the right environment.

“Andy Last and Lee Radford have done a good job with the side this week and you could see how easily they slotted into our system.”

While Hull’s young guns were enjoying the easiest of afternoons at York, the first team who will play at Leeds on Friday night were put through their paces yesterday morning.

Gentle added: “To see how well the boys trained and then to come to York and see that performance, it was a very positive day.

“We can knuckle down to business now.”

• Match report: Clinical Hull FC vanquish York City Knights