The Liam Farrell Column: Morgan has been even better than I expected

I had a tight calf, so I went in to see the physios on our day off. As a precaution, they sent me for a scan, and when the results came back it showed I had a little tear in it.

I didn’t expect it, and the physio didn’t, but they told me to rest up for a couple of weeks.

I was disappointed to miss out, not so much for myself but because the team’s low on bodies right now, and I wanted to help the lads out.

I even said, ‘I can’t feel anything now, it’s fine’ – I was keen to play. But they said the scan doesn’t lie, and told me not to.

So I sat and watched the game, and in truth, I thought Huddersfield probably deserved more from it than us.

We just seemed to be off our game, and in the end, getting a draw was a good result.

Obviously, losing two players early on didn’t help us.

Sean O’Loughlin is obviously a massive player for us, but it was the fact he was injured early – along with Jack Wells – which really impacted on us.

It disrupted the side, players had to move positions, and it meant props who are used to doing 20 minutes a half had to do extra minutes.

But we have a ‘no excuse’ policy here and we haven’t blamed the performance on the loss of those two players. We know we can be much better – we’ve shown we can be already this season.

One positive was the performance of Tom Davies, on his debut.

I thought he did a good job, he made plenty of metres with his carries and he marked the big day with a try – it was a good finish in the corner. I’m really pleased he got his chance.

Morgan Escare also got his first try for the club – what a signing he has been.

I knew he was good at Catalans, and I expected him to get better in our system. But I’ve got to admit, he’s surpassed my expectations of how good he would be – he’s done things he’s never done before.

He’s doing a really solid job at the back and then in attack, he’s linking well with Tommy (Leuluai) and George (Williams) to guide us around the pitch – which I don’t know how, given how he speaks!

His English is better than when he first arrived, and it sounds strange trying to explain this, but there’s no problems communicating with him on the pitch. He understands what he’s told, and he gets the way we play.

Hull FC arrive tomorrow night and they’ve shown over the last couple of years that they are now one of the top teams. We know what we’re going to get from them.

Albert Kelly has offered them something different – we worked on containing him when he was at Hull KR.

He seems to have struck a good halfback combination with Marc Sneyd, and they offer different strengths, in the same way Tommy and George do for us. Different players, for sure, but they’re well-balanced as a partnership. But it will come down to the big men, first and foremost; they have a very strong pack and our middles have been doing a great job this year.

They’ll need to be on form again if we’re to stretch our unbeaten run.