An In-depth Interview With Club Captain Mike Jobling

With no game this weekend, we felt it was a good time to sit down and have a chat with club captain Mike Jobling. After scoring twice in a thrilling 36-34 win at Tynedale, including the try that helped sealed the late win, he chose to shift the attention from himself onto Tom Bairstow, another member of the front row who also crossed for two tries last weekend. But first, how did it feel to secure a dramatic win at Tynedale, where only two other teams have won this season and using only two replacements?

“It’s a surreal situation because from when we got on the bus knowing what we had in the squad, there was a belief amongst the lads that we were never going to lose,” Jobling said.
“We spoke about how these types of games are the ones you remember, when the chips are down and you have only each other to rely on, what you can achieve is limitless.
“The squad really dug in, I have to take my hat off to the young lads, Alec Renouf and Dan McDougall who stepped up as showed they are more than capable at this level.
“We are only the third team after Leeds and Rotherham to scalp Tynedale on their own patch, that in itself is an achievement.

“Each time we conceded we knew we could go down the other end and score, that kind of belief only comes when everyone is pulling in the same direction.
“We don’t play in fear of being in the drop zone as that’s never been in my mind.
“We are in the rebuild phase so knowing what we can achieve with what we had will allow us all to get closer, playing with freedom is what the boss preaches.
“If we didn’t, we wouldn’t see the ability of players who don’t take their shot, freedom for me was David Davison stepping in and scoring in the corner it’s the true grit !
“You know me, running around with my mates, how can I not enjoy it?
“We may have had two replacements, one was the human wrecking ball, with a fantastic vocal set.
“The other wore spray on skinny jeans to a Wednesday night social.
“I’ll let you decide which one was which.”

“Let’s talk tries. I may have scored two, but those were Jobbers specials, total meteres covered = 2, so they are more team efforts I like to think.
“On the other hand Tom Bairstow, now that is a front rower who scores some outstanding tries.
“Tell me another tighthead prop who is only 20 that’s winning scrum penalties then charging down kicks to score the try himself.
”That boy is destined for the stars and I’m happy Hull as a club can give him that opportunity!