Shannon McDonnell: Hull FC will see best of St Helens
SHANNON McDonnell has warned his Hull FC team-mates to prepare to face the best St Helens can offer on Friday night.
Hull head to Langtree Park buoyed by their first win of the season and a substantially-improved performance against Bradford.
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Warning: Hull's Shannon McDonnell
Saints also picked up their first points of the campaign at the weekend, but were less spectacular when edging out Widnes.
Having made a stuttering start under new coach Nathan Brown, Saints have faced early criticism and the pressure is on to improve, even at this early stage.
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Beaten 40-4 by Huddersfield in their opener at Langtree Park, McDonnell expects a response from their hosts.
After a disappointing defeat at Leeds in round one of Super League, his improving Hull side are preparing to face St Helens on the up.
McDonnell told the Mail: "It is always a tough place to go. Saints are a quality team and every time you go there you have a really tough game on your hands.
"The defeat against Huddersfield doesn't mean anything, they can turn around the next week and put 60 points on a team, so we have to turn up to play.
"Saints will want to put their first home game behind them with a reaction. It was the same thing that happened to us against Leeds."
Hull's reaction to their Leeds loss came in the form of a comfortable 28-12 victory against Bradford in Sunday's re-arranged fixture.
A try-scorer against the Bulls, McDonnell's performance was one of a handful to catch the eye.
At the heart of a well-organised defensive effort which kept Bradford scoreless for 60 minutes, the former Hull KR full-back looked at ease in his combination with new half-back pairing Richard Horne and Daniel Holdsworth.
McDonnell says that combination will only improve, but he puts Hull's improved attacking prowess down to the work of his forwards.
"On a week to week basis, we are going to get better with our combinations, especially with our halves and myself," added McDonnell. "It is something we can keep building on and if we take more confidence from each week we will come off better for it.
"Week to week, our combinations will get easier, but against Bradford it was definitely all credit to our forwards for getting us on the front foot.
"They did a great job of finding a quick play-the-ball which allowed us to play on the back of that.
"It's always a good thing to get your first win early in the season and it was good to get one after a performance we weren't too happy with last week. Hopefully, we can now continue that improvement."
9 Comments
by wilo74
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 4:01PM
“A much improved performance. The best I can remember him playing. Good to see Horne on the pitch as well. He is a far better all round player than Seymour.”
by Scum_Slammer
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 3:53PM
“Everyone with any sense can see that Sandycock is way out of his depth at super league level, the Dobbins,Salford and Broncos are the three clubs at the bottom of the table and that's the way the season will finish.
Hudgell has saddled an inadequate coach with a bunch of cheap journeymen,rejects and no-hopers and that is a lethal combination which will come back to haunt him all season.
That is the reason why the Dobbin's season pass sales are down 20 % year on year and why there were only 5,000 fans willing to pay to watch their opening home game.
Lets face it, the Dobbins couldn't have had an easier start to the season, wait till they meet Leeds,St Helens,Warrington and Wigan.
Still never mind,auntie Slammer told us that Larvin's millions will arrive soon.ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha”
by easthullfc11
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 1:51PM
“i said before the leeds game that horne should be picked alongside holdsworth, looks like i was right. not saying we would have beaten leeds with horne, but we sure would have looked more threatening”
by easthullfc11
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 1:49PM
“hkr rlfc - you said i was dreaming and knew nothing, after i tipped fc to beat b.b. by 10 points min. well the only bit i got was thinking your lot could actually beat trinity.
this week . i', expecting a defeat for fc by 8- 16 points. don't know who kr play but they're home i suppose so a narrow win.”
by GEvans76
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 1:42PM
“McDonnell impressed me a lot on Sunday and he will only get better.
St Helen's have not started the season well so I expect a much improved performance from them on Friday.
Hard game to call.”
by albanyrovers
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 1:26PM
“Shannon McDonnell had a fantastic game and looked really secure, maybe the change of coach has instilled more econfidence”
by FROGSPAWN11
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 9:55AM
“looks like he is improving week by week!! also saw big improvemets in Green and Taylor for Wigan and Fox and Cockayne for Wakey!!!”
by Dave577
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 9:00AM
“Strange, he was the bees knees when you signed him !!”
by jimmysknees
Tuesday, February 12 2013, 8:43AM
“allams are a disgrace”