Hull FC coach Brett Hodgson will keep tabs on Marc Sneyd and Manu Ma’u as he prepares for Sunday’s home Super League clash with Warrington.
Kiwi second rower Ma’u took a knock during the Challenge Cup third-round win at Featherstone, while scrum-half Sneyd missed the match because of a dead leg.
Hodgson is without star Australian Josh Reynolds for between four and six weeks due to a hamstring injury.
The former Wests Tigers stand-off made an impressive start at Hull with three tries in his first two appearances, but limped out of the Super League win over Salford.
Sneyd was also injured during that match.
“He got a dead leg two weeks ago (when Hull beat Huddersfield) and he got another knock on it against Salford,” said Hodgson.
“We tried our best to get him through for Featherstone but he just wasn’t fit enough and it was too risky.
“Manu Ma’u has a got a tight calf. We’ll get that scanned to see how it is.”
Meanwhile Hodgson has recounted his early days as a Western Suburbs Magpies player under the Sydney club’s legendary halfback and later coach Tommy Raudonikis, who has died aged 70.
The fullback played for the Magpies between 1997 and the merger with Balmain in 1999 (he later had a five-year stint with the amalgamated Wests Tigers before joining Huddersfield in 2009).
Hodgson particularly recalls Raudonikis’s post-match ‘recovery’ sessions, carried out on the hill behind the well-known Chili’s Texas Grill in the Woodbine suburb of the city.
“We called it Chili’s Hill,” explained Hodgson.
“He would drive up to the top of the hill, sit on the bonnet of his Ute and yell at us to keep running until he finished his drink.
“There was no recovery, it was just running. It didn’t matter if you were injured or sore, you had to keep going, even if you had to vomit.
“That’s the way he was. He was so passionate you just wanted to do anything for him. You were desperate to play for him and give it all you could.”
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