Hull have acted to ease the pressure on beleaguered coach Peter Sharp ahead of Saturday's game against Catalans Dragons by insisting his future does not hinge on the outcome.
Chief executive James Rule responded to growing speculation that Sharp, at 53 the oldest coach in Super League, will be sacked if Hull fail to get back to winning ways in Perpignan.
Hull, who were Grand Finalists in Sharp's first season at the KC Stadium in 2006, were seen as play-off certainties at the start of the season but are currently in 11th place after losing six of their first eight matches.
Sharp's contract runs out at the end of the season and the board's patience is thought to be wearing thin but Rule spoke out to dampen speculation on the eve of tomorrow's crucial game.
"Peter Sharp's future does not depend on the result of this weekend's game and Peter knows that," Rule told the Hull Daily Mail. "To suggest that is true is completely wrong.
"All our focus and attention right now is on Catalans Dragons."
Sharp's team has been decimated by injury since before the first match and prop Jamie Thackray, who rejoined the club this week after being released by Leeds, will become the 27th player to be used by the coach this season, which reaches the one-third mark this weekend.
Experienced prop Peter Cusack will lose his ever-present record after staying behind in Hull to be with his pregnant wife while influential scrum-half Adam Dykes has rejoined the casualty list, which will mean Sharp using a fifth different half-back partnership this season.
Catalans, who are aiming for a fourth successive win, are poised to give a debut to former Wakefield second row forward Olivier Elima while prop Jerome Guisset returns from suspension.
Warrington and Harlequins will also be well under strength when they meet at the Halliwell Jones Stadium tomorrow.
Stand-off Scott Hill has joined Mark McLinden, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Daniel Heckenberg on the sidelines after sustaining nerve damage to his arm in Monday's defeat at Bradford.
But Danny Orr and Julien Rinaldi both return and former Wigan full-back Chris Melling, who spent nine months on the sidelines after injuring his groin on his Great Britain debut last summer, came through his comeback at Odsal unscathed.
"Although we've got a couple of our key players out through injury, the squad I have named is a very capable one," said Quins coach Brian McDermott.
The Londoners will be aiming to avoid a fourth successive defeat while Warrington are out to extend their 100% home record despite the absence of five first-choice players through injury and suspension.
Full-back Stuart Reardon and stand-off Lee Briers are the latest casualties and, with loose forward Louis Anderson picking up a one-match ban, coach Paul Cullen could give a debut to 17-year-old prop Adam Neal.
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