Rising pack star Lee Radford is a new man this season as he bids to make up for a season in the first-team wilderness.

The highly-rated 20-year-old back-rower was signed in a blaze of publicity during the 1999 close season.

Big things were expected from a player described as the best prospect on Humberside since Lee Crooks.

But Radford admits: "Last season was a shocker, an absolute nightmare. I was just sat in the stands watching them play and felt I should have been out there.

"The previous year at Hull I had played quite a bit for the first team so it felt like a step backwards to me. But obviously there was a better squad here and a lot of competition for places.

"Matthew (Elliott) said it was a matter of waiting for my chance and taking it when it came."

But Radford didn't sit back and let it come to him - he made it happen with a gruelling pre-season conditioning programme aimed at increasing his bulk and strength.

"Our conditioner Carl Jennings has been unbelievable with me and taken time out to do extra work with me. I just had one week off at the end of the season and then it was back into it.

"But I am reaping the benefits now and feel a lot stronger. I put a stone in weight on, including quite a bit of fat, but with regular games I have started to lose some of that. I just feel so much better than last year when I was getting stopped dead but now I am making more of an impact."

Radford and fellow youngster Jamie Peacock have done so well that an established player like Bernard Dwyer has found his way blocked.

"It's good to see Jamie doing really well too. He came back to training at about the same time as me and he has taken his opportunities too."

Now their progress will be put to the test in two crunch battles with Warrington including that Challenge Cup semi-final at Headingley and the possibility of a dream clash with his hometown club in the final at Murrayfield.

"Hull are going great, aren't they," he adds. "People talked about it being an upset when they beat Wigan in the cup. I don't think it was because they are going to be a very difficult side to beat on their own ground.

"The city is buzzing again. Everywhere I go in Hull people are talking about the club again. I hope they do well as long as they come second to us.

"We have two big games coming up. We had a look at Warrington on the video on Thursday.

"As Matt says, it is a challenge playing them twice in succession but if we are on our game we will destroy any team in the league.

"Our first half performance at Halifax was good but we went slack in the second-half and Warrington will be trying to capitalise on that. But we are not going into the game worrying about them.

"Andrew Gee has looked really good and Tawera Nikau has been there and done it. We have some great forwards too so it should be a great tussle.

"We aren't playing our best, we know that. There is always room for improvement and when we do watch out because someone is going to take a battering."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.