Hull Seahawks coach Matty Davies confident things will only get better for NIHL National newcomers

The Seahawks are still waiting for import forwards Emil Svec and Andrej Themár to arrive because of delays over their visas from the home office, while player-coach Davies and captain Sam Towner remain sidelined through injury.

Davies has been dealing with a niggle for a couple of weeks now, while Towner has not featured since suffering a head injury in the 3-1 loss at Leeds Knights in the Yorkshire Cup.

The Seahawks emerged from the three-way pre-season warm-up tournament without a win to their name but plenty of invaluable experience, their 4-2 defeat at Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday night coming on the back of a heavy 8-1 reverse on home ice against Leeds the previous evening.

Leeds enjoyed Yorkshire bragging rights having won all four of their games, but it is this weekend when the real business begins, the Seahawks opening up their inaugural NIHL National league campaign with a tough 48 hours which sees them travel to Swindon Wildcats before returning home to play host to Milton Keynes Lightning.

Both opponents will be among the favourites for silverware this season, having retained a large core of their roster from last season, Last season the Wildcats won the Autumn Cup, while the Lightning finished runners-up to the Steeldogs in the play-offs.

“It starts this weekend for real,” said Davies. “Saturday was disappointing because we were on home ice and I always like to put on a good show for the fans and it was a good turnout, too. I feel a bit responsible in a way for leaving the lads so short.

"Sam is day-to-day at the minute and we have to be so careful with it. I know all about head injuries so we won’t be rushing Towns back at all.”

Davies hopes to have more positive news regarding Svec and Themar this week, the obvious hope being that they arrive in the UK in time to make the long trip down to Wiltshire.

"We are just waiting for their visas to turn up,” added Davies. “There is literally nothing we can do about that. We have to wait for the Home Office to send the visas and as soon as we have them they will be flown over.

"We want them for next week – we need them for next week. We are so short at the minute and it’s not like we are just missing three, or four guys – we are missing three major players and that leaves a dent in the team."

Davies acknowledged he has had to rely on his younger players more than he anticipated, while temporarily adding bodies from NIHL North One to strengthen the roster, but he is confident things will begin to get better on the ice soon.

"It is tough and we’ve got some really young lads in there, learning fast on the job,” said Davies. “I have asked a lot of them. Some of those boys have got some serious ability but it is a different kettle of fish when you are up against seasoned pros at this level.

“But we'll keep working and we’ll come back stronger. It will come, reinforcements are coming and we will get better.”