The Yorkshire Post's rugby league writer James O'Brien looks ahead to Hull FC's 2025 campaign in Super League, picking out reasons for optimism, areas of concern, key players and a predicted finish
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00:00I like the look and sound of new head coach John Cartwright, he's got a presence about
00:15him, he's got a lot of experience coming from Australia, mainly as an assistant but he was
00:21a head coach at Gold Coast Titans way back when, when they first started out, so he's
00:26got that experience and you can tell just being around him and watching training, he
00:31has, he can hold a room, he's got that presence and aura about him, which they really lacked
00:36under Tony Smith who was quite relaxed, complete opposite kind of character. So I think under
00:43John Cartwright there will be an improvement at Hull FC.
00:50It's that soft underbelly that Hull have had for a while now, it's just whether these experienced
00:55players who have come in, the likes of Jordan Rapana, John Asiata, Zak Hardeke, they can
01:00really get to grips with that and when it's going against Hull, that they don't capitulate
01:05like they have for a lot of years now. So it's just whether they have enough quality
01:12in the halves as well, that's the big area of concern. They've lost Jordan Abdullu, they
01:16signed on a three-year deal, he's not even played a game and they had to get rid of him
01:21on medical grounds. So they're left with Aiden Caesar and Cade Cust, who you'd probably
01:27say would be one of the strongest pairings in the league. So they are areas of concern
01:33for Hull. If they get those sorted and those halves go well, then they could enjoy a good
01:39season because they have got experience and some season quality coming in.
01:46Probably someone like Rapana, Jordan Rapana, he's come in, played a lot of years at Canberra,
01:54highly regarded there, a seasoned international as well until recently with New Zealand. A
02:02goal kicker, can play a full-back or on the wing. Just someone, a competitor like him,
02:09with that amount of experience, he could drag the players around him, particularly those
02:14young ones, up to new heights at a different level. If he has a good season, I think Hull
02:22could have a good season as well.
02:27Hull have gone to finish 10th, which would be an improvement. They've steadily gone down
02:31the Super League table. I think it's 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th last season and they only
02:37avoided 12th place on points difference against the London side, who had part-time players.
02:45That shows how poor they were last year. They only got six points. That's three wins across
02:49the entire season. But I think they'll improve on that. I'm not sure they've got enough quality
02:55yet to get higher than 10th, but they will be heading in the right direction. John Cartwright
03:02and Richard Myler are doing some good things in the background there at Hull.