Darnell McIntosh is planning to help Hull “right a few wrongs” this season.
While teammate Manu Ma’u is set to miss the opening rounds of the Super League campaign with a hamstring injury, the winger is eager to prove his readiness for the opening meeting at Wakefield on Sunday week, February 13.
Having suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear while playing for his former club Huddersfield in late June, McIntosh was boosted by coming through a recent behind-closed-doors clash with London Broncos.
Now the 24-year-old is keen to continue fine-tuning as he tries to stake a claim for the trip to Trinity.
McIntosh, who made the England Knights training squad in April, has signed a three-year contract at Hull, and aims to help get the Black and Whites back up the table after last season’s eighth-place finish.
“Looking from afar, I saw so much potential at Hull, and now I’m here, I realise just how much passion for the club there is in the city,” he said.
“It’s an exciting thing to be a part of, and looking at the squad, it’s clear Hull underachieved last year. There’s a definite feeling we need to right a few wrongs.
“I know Covid took its toll, because the start to the season was strong, but things tailed off over the second half, so consistency is a starting point.”
Ma’u, who has played for both Tonga and New Zealand, switched from Parramatta Eels ahead of the 2020 season and has made 33 Hull appearances, scoring four tries.
But the 33-year-old will have to wait to add to those tallies, although coach Brett Hodgson insisted: “He will have a significant role to play in our season.”
While prop Scott Taylor has been ruled out of the early stages with a foot problem, Hodgson has a concern over newly-recruited Fiji prop Kane Evans.
Suspended for the first three matches in any case because of a ban carried over from an NRL outing with New Zealand Warriors, the 30-year-old picked up a pectoral problem against the Broncos.
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