T'Other Side: Hull FC

T’Other Side: Hull FC

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: Lee Radford

Lee Radford became Head Coach at Hull in 2014 having previously been assistant coach there. Although his start was a bit shaky in 2016 he led Hull to a Challenge Cup win, the first time they had ever won the Challenge Cup at Wembley. Under his guidance they won the Challenge Cup again in 2017. They also finished the regular Super Legue in top spot in 2016 before the split into the Super 8s. They have finished the Super League 8s in the top four for the last two seasons.

His playing career began with Hull FC in 1996. In 1999 he moved to Bradford Bulls but came back to Hull in 2006 where he stayed until he retired at the end of the 2012 season. He received representative selection with Great Britain Academy, Yorkshire and England

Captain: Danny Houghton

Danny Houghton is a workaholic hooker who often plays a full 80 minutes and regularly tops charts for the highest number of tackles made. He has been at Hull for his whole career starting in the first team in 2007 and by the following year he had become a regular in the first team. He has so far played 304 times for Hull. He has also played for England Knights but many would consider him very unlucky never to have played for the full England team.

At the back

Hull signed New Zealander Bureta Faraimo from New Zealand Warriors in the off season. He never actually played for the Warriors in the NRL but he did play 15 NRL games for the Parramatta Eels. He is a very big, powerful winger and is the second highest try scorer this year. In the 2017 World Cup he played for the United States. Josh Griffin, younger brother of Darrell, plays at centre but often displays the power of a prop forward. Born in Oxfordshire, Josh began his professional career with Wakefield Trinity in 2008 and also played for Huddersfield, Batley, Castleford and Salford before joining Hull in 2017. Jamie Shaul is a very reliable defensive fullback who is a formidable attacking force making numerable line bursts and linking excellently with the three quarters. He began in the first team at Hull in 2013 where he has been throughout his career apart from 3 dual-reg appearances for York in that first year.

In the halves

Recently, Hull have suffered several injuries in the halfback department so it is difficult to predict who will be lining up there against Fev. Their usual partnership is Albert Kelly and Marc Sneyd. Albert Kelly is an Australian stand-off with huge skills and is a real handful for defences because of his unpredictability. After playing in the NRL with Cronulla and Gold Coast he came to England in 2015 to play for Hull Kingston Rovers. He crossed the city to Hull FC in 2017. Marc Sneyd is renowned as one of the very best tactical kickers in Super League and is also a very good place-kicker. His career began with Salford in 2010 and he had a single year at Castleford in 2014 before joining Hull FC. Jordan Abdull is also a halfback but he suffered a leg break against Catalans a couple of weeks ago. Although he usually plays at centre, Jake Connor, deputises at halfback when needed. He was originally at Huddersfield but made dual reg appearances for Batley and Oldham before joining Hull in 2017.

In the pack

Josh Bowden plays at prop forward and occasionally at loose forward. He began his first grade career with Hull in 2012 and has also played on dual reg for York and Doncaster. Most often he was a bench player but nowadays he is getting more opportunities in the starting thirteen. Australian, Mark Minichiello, is an excellent second rower. Nearing the end of his career at the age of 36 he can still be relied upon to put in the performances that galvanise the rest of team. He played in the NRL for Sydney Roosters, South Sydney and Gold Coast before joining Hull in 2015. He is an Italian international. Scott Taylor is another player to have made the cross city switch. A powerful, ball handling prop forward he began with Hull KR in 2009. He joined Wigan in 2013 and played two games for South Wales on dual reg that year. He returned to Hull (but this time with FC) in 2016. He is an England international. Danny Washbrook is Hull’s longest serving player having started his career there in 2005. He is a real utilty player able to fill in at second row, loose forward, hooker, centre or stand-off! In 2012 he moved to Wakefield but returned to Hull FC in 2016.

The Fev connection

There are three members the Hull FC squad who have played for Fev. Jordan Abdull made 5 appearances on loan for Fev in 2016. In 2014, prop forward Chris Green played 6 times for Fev also on loan. Jansin Turgut is currently at Fev on loan but presumably won’t be allowed to play in a Challenge Cup tie.

In the Rovers squad there are two players who have previously been at Hull. Anthony Thackeray had just two games for them in 2007. Scott Wheeldon played in the first team at Hull for 3 years from 2006 to 2008. Before he broke into the first team he had a loan spell at Fev in 2005.