Hull FC captain Gareth Ellis will make his return to action in Friday’s game with Widnes, Lee Radford has confirmed.
Ellis has missed the last two matches following a concussion in the club’s defeat to Catalans a fortnight ago.
Without the 35-year-old, the Black and Whites have defeated Huddersfield and St Helens, however, Radford was under no illusions how big a boost his return will be to the squad.
“It was probably a week later than expected originally and we managed to cope well without him,” Radford said.
“But to have him back in the squad with the fixtures that we have coming up is a real plus for the team.”
Radford also confirmed that Steve Michaels will make his first appearance of the season after Fetuli Talanoa was ruled out due to a concussion of his own.
“Steve Michaels gets his first opportunity of the season and he’s been chomping at the bit these last couple of weeks and just missed out on selection.”
On Talanoa, Radford said: “I think the physios tend to be more cautious because of the history
“If you remember the Widnes game last season when he did it and we didn’t quite know how he did it.
“It ended up being a costly experience for us that one, but we wanted to get him off straight away as soon as we identified that.”
