Simon Grix has challenged his Hull FC players to harness their motivation ahead of Friday's game at Leeds Rhinos. The Black and Whites head to Headingley for their final away fixture of the season, with Grix aiming to channel a performance the club can be proud of in West Yorkshire.

With just three wins to their name all year, one of which came against Leeds at the MKM Stadium back in June, Hull face an ominous task, with the Rhinos still gunning for a Super League play-off position. However, Grix is hoping the latest test can be one that inspires his players.

Looking for a step up after a below-par display against Castleford Tigers last time out, Grix, who has reaffirmed that accountability is collective within the club, has put a personal responsibility on each player to find their inner motivation and perform, with the whole setup judged on the eighty minutes of rugby per week.

"We put onus on the players for their own performance and owning that, and that comes off as a bit of 'us and them' but it certainly doesn't mean to be that way," Grix said in his pre-match press conference. "Everyone (players and staff) has their role to play, through the week and on gameday, but those lads who go out there have got a big one to play on the field. They're carrying out the week's work, and we're all judged on what we're able to put out there.

"The challenge for us now is to harness motivation. We can motivate players to a degree, but it's intrinsic; you have to have something firing in you, and whatever the route cause of that is is different and individual for everyone.

"We've done it all this year; we've sprayed them, we've had an arm around them, and we've tried to antagonise them a little bit as well and challenge them, but there's only so many times that you can do each of those methods. You can't necessarily do them consecutively; otherwise, you are just bringing people down, but we've praised them for their efforts, although it was all for nothing against Wigan, and we were honest after Castleford and challenged them a bit on why they're here and what their motivation is.

"Whether that's money, they love Hull FC, or they're representing their family, whatever, we've challenged them to try and harness that for the next few weeks and be proud. It says Hull and Proud on all of our gear. I'm certain we haven't come off the field every time this year and been proud of our performances individually or collectively. Hopefully they can get hold of that to transpire them to a level that they are happy with."

Looking for an effort-based performance, Grix is aiming to see some character from his side, with the willingness to do the tough stuff, whether it be ten yard retreat, the line speed, the kick pressure, etc. Those are areas where Hull felt short last week, with the incentive now on making the right choices and not taking shortcuts when the game gets tough. .

"The effort is there, but sometimes the choices are different," Grix explained. "You can be tired and still get back really fast. You can be tired and get around the corner from marker and get your kick pressure and stuff like that.

"There was context last week, losing players, and we were tired. The game got away from us, and we went into a negative mindset, saving our energy a little bit for the stuff that we prefer to do, which is what I said immediately after the game. You get found out really quick if you do that, and the lads know where they need to improve. I'm hoping that we now jump back up to the sort of effort we produced a couple of weeks ago."

Grix added: "We know we haven't been good enough as a club, as a team, all year to compete consistently. We got a little patch where it started coming together a little bit, and then more and more change comes in, and it's been tough for everyone associated.

"It will be nice to start making some changes now where we get that integrity about us and we're doing everything we can to perform. Your actions and words might not always line up, even if you are trying your best, but we want to see them really attempting to align them, and that will give us something to be proud of. That's how we want to finish our season."

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