HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS head coach Luke Robinson told Fenton Rogers to make a dent on Hull FC – and the player’s success left the boss pondering a “really bright future”.
Rogers was impressive as the Giants beat Hull FC for a second time this season, following up their Magic Weekend win with another success at the MKM Stadium.
Discussing Rogers, Robinson said: “When it comes to middles, he is only in the infancy of his actual career. Middles don’t start playing their best rugby until late 20s, early 30s.
“He has been out with an injury, gone and played at Bradford and got some match fitness and I tasked him with trying to go after their pack and make a bit of a dent and I thought he was brilliant.
“What I love about Fenton is that he is a little bit old-school. There are loads of areas of his game where he needs to improve. But two things as a coach that I don’t think you can put into anybody are speed and toughness.
“You can make someone a little bit quicker and more agile but you can’t make them Usain Bolt. And you can’t make someone tough. Fenton Rogers is tough.
“That was probably to his own downfall earlier in his career when he kept getting banned over and over again. He’s confrontational, he gets stuck in, he will never take a backward step.
“If we keep looking at nuances in his game, he is going to be a really, really good player.
“And he’s got leadership qualities for a young kid. If someone doesn’t make the line or fitness, I don’t need to say anything because Fenny will turn around and say it himself. I think he’s got a really bright future.”
Discussing the triumph at Hull, a response after being thumped by Wakefield, Robinson said: “I’m really proud of the lads.”
He added: “It’s never going to go your way all the time. When things have been going well for us this year and we’re on the front foot we’ve been going good.
“Last week against Wakefield we started well and then couldn’t wrestle momentum back. Today they (Hull) had a ten-minute spell at the beginning of the game, where we soaked up pressure and we turned up for each other over and over again and withstood their attack – and actually managed to flip it.
“There was that resilience to turn the tide and get it in our favour.”