PETER Gentle says his side's derby defeat answered a few questions and said he is now closer to knowing his team to start Super League.
Gentle conceded there was much work to be done after watching the Black and Whites go down 28-18 at the KC Stadium in the senior side's final outing of pre-season.
Hull were patchy at best against their bitter rivals, eventually going down by five tries to three.
"I'm closer to knowing my team now, a few things were cleared up in this game and a few questions answered," said Gentle.
"There's no covering it up, there is a lot of work to be done. You could see two teams that hadn't been able to train all week, but trying to play some football.
"It was a bit of a reality check for us. We have a lot of work to do, but we know that. We were in this position last year. There were a few more questions answered in this game."
Despite the loss, Gentle was eager to play down the significance, pointing to a lack of training outside all week because of the weather, and his desire to keep switching his players around in order to give his squad a chance to stake their claim for places.
Having watched his team concede five tries, the Aussie wasn't too concerned with the defensive structure either, rather Hull's failure to retain possession.
"The possession first half was two to one in their favour, we levelled that up second half but we only completed at 50 per cent," Gentle said.
"I thought defensively we were only okay for a long period and three of their tries came from kicks. Second half we lost a bit of shape, but only conceded one try.
"With the amount of defending we did I'm not too concerned, I'm more concerned with what we were doing with the ball."
