It’s fair to say that Hull FC have had a shameful first half of the Betfred Super League season and find themselves in what should be perceived as a relegation battle, but isn’t simply because of the even more shameful grading system, or is it all as shameful as myself and many others believe?
Having only scraped one win in their first 13 games, Hull have absolutely infuriated and embarrassed arguably the most loyal and committed fan base in the game, leaving them understandably breathing fire and entirely frustrated, with no sign of a 2nd win of the season approaching, but there has to be a major caviat here, with a very young swagger about it.
This season, Hull have thrown many of their young guns in at the deep end, some because of an absolutely eye-watering injury list, added to by several yellow and red cards (who could ever forget the farce of Nu Brown at Warrington) but others have simply forced their way into the reckoning, under Tony Smith’s and now Simon Grix’s stewardship in the hottest of hot seats.
So far this season, Hull have used Jack Charles, Will Gardiner, Zach Jebson, Davy Litten, Logan Moy, Lewis Martin, Harvey Barron, Matty Laidlaw and Nick Staveley, all on more than one occasion during this season so far and the general thought in the press box is that, while the Airlie Birds look more like a Championship side, all these young players will have gained invaluable experience, learned an awful lot of very harsh lessons and will be very much better prepared and experienced players moving forward in what has so far been a torrid and unforgiving season moving forward into the 2nd half of the season and that can only be very good, productive and positive for the team from the MKM Stadium.
Another point to make is that Hull have been on the road for the last 2 months due to the pitch being relaid at the stadium, which will naturally mean that they have more home gamesleft in what remains of the season and that time on the road will have brought the playing group closer together.
At times it has looked a complete shambles on the pitch, and in one post-match press conference, I asked Simon Grix if it felt like he was trying to put a jigsaw together because of the amount of young talent and loan players he has had to throw into the match-day squad, his reply was simply “I think that’s a very good way to describe our situation at the moment.”
It’s also no secret that Derek Beaumont is none too happy with Hull FC at the moment, because he says that they threw new signing John Asiata under a bus, by announcing his signing when they did, however I know for a fact that situation was created by someone else, not Hull FC.
My knowledge of the situation is that, I left East Yorkshire to drive to Warrington to report on the game taking place that evening. As a press contact for Hull FC I do receive news such as a new signing or contract extension etc, in a press release with an embargo on it, saying when that news must not be released before, but I had absolutely no knowledge of the signing of Asiata, because I hadn’t received any press release, embargoed or otherwise, there was absolutely no way in the world that news was meant to be released that day.
However, someone had opened their big gob (I believe it may have been Asiata’s agent, but I don’t know for certain) and by the time I got to Warrington, the news was on the Hull FC official website and social media platforms, when I went on to look for the team line-up announcement, which by the way, wasn’t there yet.
I went to speak to the chaps from Hull FC media and was told that they had received a phone call while in the car on their way to Warrington, telling them to put a package together and release the news immediately.
Knowing the Hull FC media boys as I do, I know they were not at all happy about how they had to do this. I know for a fact that they prefer to put official news like that out at 6pm (as shown today with the announcement of the Jordan Abdull return to his hometown club) I also know, sat in the press box in Warrington that evening, they looked absolutely shot, wound up very unhappy with how this had to be done.
That day almost seemed to encapsulate Hull’s season so far, with things being asked of certain people, that should not be asked of them, be it a bunch of teenagers having to try and stand up to fully trained, professional athletes for 80 minutes, or people in the background, having to produce a news story because somebody couldn’t keep their big fat gob shut until an appropriate time.
What Hull FC must do now is put these events, both on and off the pitch behind them and concentrate on what is coming in the future.
As it happens, they have the massively important Hull & Proud Week coming up next, with a home game against a Leeds Rhinos outfit who have already scraped over the line for a controversial win at the MKM Stadium this year and who will no doubt have found confidence anew after their thumping of the Castleford Tigers side who beat Hull the week before.
Having said that, don’t go thinking that a Rhinos win is a forgone conclusion, we all know anything can happen in this wonderful sport we call rugby league and right now Hull FC have an agenda all of their own, one which will include getting some morale boosting victories and leaving Derek Beaumont no room to talk about why they shouldn’t keep their Super League place based on a very flawed grading system.
If Hull can keep a settled team and ruffle a few feathers, with the lessons learned by a bunch of super talented youngsters and investment having arrived from a certain Yorkshire businessman, a return to the higher echelons of Super League and the much-coveted Challenge Cup could be a lot closer than is currently, rightly anticipated.
There’s no way that even I can make a case for them to make the playoffs this year now, but as every rugby league supporter knows, there is always next season!
Written by Ian Judson (Site contributor & Hull FC fan)
Gerrim Onside! 
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