The 2020 season was a little bit different for everyone, and Hull FC were no exception. Yet it seemed that the more things changed for the black and whites the more they stayed the same.
Even chairman Adam Pearson’s notorious interview in which he announced the departure of two-time Challenge Cup winning coach Lee Radford couldn’t shake FC out of their malaise of inconsistency and under-achievement. A late flurry and some creative tinkering with the structure of the competition offered hope, but when if fizzled out with a convincing 29-2 semi-final defeat to Wigan it felt like Hull had got what they deserved from the season overall.
Pearson put the club firmly in the rugby league headlines following an abject 38-4 defeat to Warrington in March. Facing the Sky cameras in place of Radford he announced on the live broadcast that Radford would no longer be in the head coaching role. It was a pretty stunning way to go about your business even if it seems likely that it had been discussed with Radford beforehand. It was bound to be spun as the chairman sacking his coach live on air. While it was not quite like that it was nevertheless a fairly classless effort on his part and would have caused a good deal of embarrassment for Radford. Perhaps his time was up, but he deserved better.
It had all started so well. When FC took Leeds Rhinos apart on the opening day it looked like this talented squad were finally ready to be taken seriously. They followed that win up with an always popular derby victory - beating Hull KR 25-16 at a rocking KCom. That appears to be the point where their troubles started. They suffered three defeats in a row to Saints, Wigan and Catalans Dragons, briefly reviving with a one-point win over Wakefield Trinity before that fateful Warrington walloping.
Andy Last - who had a 20-year association with the club as player and coach - was placed in temporary charge for what turned out to be the remainder of the season. It got worse before it got better as FC were whacked 54-18 by Salford Red Devils in the first game following Pearson’s intervention. FC then settled back into old ways, winning one and losing one in a pattern you could almost set your watch by until a three-game winning streak at the end of the season somehow got them into the playoffs.
The curtailment of the regular season in the Covid chaos led somewhat illogically to the expansion of the playoffs to six teams. Hull were in then after victories over Huddersfield, Castleford and Hull KR in October. They even managed to win a playoff game - exorcising a few demons with a 27-14 win over the more fancied Warrington - before crashing out with an effort that doesn’t even qualify as a whimper in that heavy defeat by Wigan. That they missed out on playing in a home Grand Final after the event was switched to the KCom only heightened the disappointment.
Last was not offered the opportunity to continue as head coach on a permanent basis and has instead become Chris Chester’s assistant at Wakefield. His replacement at the KCom is former Huddersfield and Warrington full back Brett Hodgson. The former New South Wales State Of Origin player has been an assistant coach at another of his former clubs Wests Tigers in the NRL for the last two years. Now he returns to Hull - where he started coaching as a consultant after retiring in 2013 - to take on his first full time head coaching role.
With less than six weeks to the start of the 2021 season Hodgson’s only recruit is one who has made the journey with him to Humberside from the Tigers. Josh Reynolds managed only 10 appearances for the Tigers in the NRL last season, and only 22 over a three-year spell. That’s perhaps understandable given that he has been competing with the likes of Luke Brookes and Benji Marshall for a halfback slot in Campbelltown. But he will turn 32 within a month of the season’s kick-off, so will his career enjoy a resurgence or is he just passing the time until his retirement? He has pedigree having made 138 appearances and scored 169 points for the Canterbury Bulldogs in a seven-season stint which included appearances in two losing NRL Grand Finals.
It’s arguable that the FC squad was in need of something of a clear out but it hasn’t really had it. Of the big name departures Josh Jones never really made an impression due to Covid while Gareth Ellis had to retire at some point. He does so for the second time - aged 39 - but in any case he was no longer the dynamic enforcer who had collected medals at Leeds and stormed the NRL. Meanwhile Albert Kelly is one of those Marmite players, indulged by those who cherish his ability to come up with the unexpected but maligned by those who want a bit more reliability in their number seven. The ability to tackle helps, too. Kelly regularly hovers around the top of the missed tackle charts.
If Reynolds can be relied upon he will probably form a halfback partnership with Marc Sneyd. The latter’s kicking game has never been in question but he’s never been all that dynamic either. Perhaps the pair will compliment each other. Hodgson will hope so but it does leave him with the conundrum of what to do with Jake Connor. Never the most popular player among opposing fans, when Connor is not winding opponents up he is one of the most talented players knocking about in Super League at present. He literally has everything. He could be used as a full back which would raise questions around Jamie Shaul, or else operate at centre meaning one of Josh Griffin or Carlos Tuimavave would have to make way. Hodgson is not going to be short of options in his back line despite Ratu Naulago’s defection to rugby union. Yet it might be that unless he can get Connor in the team and performing consistently we are not going to see the improvement in results that black and whites fans crave.
Hodgson will also need to get more out of a forward pack which promised much but delivered far less in 2020. Manu M’au, Ligi Sao and Tavita Satae all look well capable of more while promising home grown products like Josh Bowden, Joe Cator, Brad Fash and Jordan Lane offer further value. Veteran tackling machine Danny Houghton is still around but can expect to share time with Jordan Johnstone. Perhaps Hull’s most skilled forward is Andre Savelio but in many ways the former Saints starlet encapsulates FC’s weaknesses over the last few seasons. Occasionally brilliant but not somebody who has proved you can rely on him when things get real.
Fittingly, Hodgson starts his Hull FC tenure against his former club Huddersfield Giants. They too are bedding in a new coach as Ian Watson makes the move to the John Smith’s Stadium from Salford. Yet for Hodgson and Hull it is less about how they start and more about how they go on after that. Consistency is key for a squad which looks plenty good enough to make the playoffs but would turn the heads of nobody should they fall short.
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