“Desire to prove people wrong” – Doubters fuelling Richie Myler as he explains what impact he’ll have

Richie Myler has given his first interview since his appointment as Director of Rugby at Hull FC with the 33-year-old revealing what impact he’ll have have at the club.

Myler’s appointment on Monday sent shockwaves through the rugby league world with the former Irish international announcing his retirement via York Knights website before his appointment at FC was confirmed just 45 minutes later.

He has now provided an interview on the club’s YouTube channel in which he explains his motivation for the role and what exactly it is that he’ll bring.

Asked on his initial feelings about the role, Richie Myler answered: “I’m over the moon. I can’t wait to get started. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind 72 hours, but the welcome I’ve had at the club has been phenomenal. Like I say, I can’t wait to get going.

“Hull is such a big club and I think from speaking with Adam, and the excitement that he wants to restore in the fans and in the city around the club, I got it, I understood it and I could see how I could have an impact and how I can help what’s already here, because we’re doing an awful lot of good stuff as a club. It’s just on the field and the consistency and performance we need to be better with.”

‘Never wanted to be a head coach’ – Richie Myler reveals long-term ambitions

Whilst it was a shock appointment for everyone else, for Richie Myler it’s a role that he’s been envisaging for quite some time.

The ex-Leeds Rhinos man revealed that he had never intended to become a head coach but that a role akin to the one he has been hired into was something that he’d been lining up for the past five or six years.

On retirement, he explained: “Yeah I’ve given it some thought over the last five or six years really. I’ve always planned that. I didn’t really want to be a head coach. I didn’t see myself going down the coach route. So I always was excited and intrigued by the business side of it and the dynamics of the performance side. So I was always interested in that.

“After speaking with Adam and understanding what he felt he needed, he needed somebody that’s just fresh out of the game and it has come in a time when I’d just done my elbow, just injured and I’m thinking maybe it’s time to call the day on the actual playing side of it and how can I have an impact off the field and this is a perfect role I thought for myself and wonder where to start.”

Explaining the immediate impact that he’ll bring to the Super League strugglers, Myler added: “I think a bit of calmness, I’m a very calm person, I think that’s the way I play. I’m not a person that makes rash decisions. I think it’s just a bit of a bit of calmness to the situation.”

“Bring everybody together” – Myler’s plans to fix “fractured” Hull FC

With six losses and just one win so far in Super League and three seasons without play-off rugby, there’s plenty to fix at Hull FC and that’s something that Myler isn’t shying away from.

He explained: “Quite clearly we’re in a tough spot as a club and we need to be better over a period of time. The way we’ve recruited and the way that we’ve built a squad and the way that we’ve pulled together has probably been a bit fractured.

“We just need to solidify that and bring everything in together and go productively in the right direction and I think that’s my goal is to try and drive that and bring everybody together.

“I feel I can do that and I can outline my plan to Adam that I felt would work and ultimately together is the only way that we can go forward and that’s what I’m looking forward to do.”

Ultimately, plenty of people have cast doubt over the ability and qualifications of Richie Myler, including Jon Wilkin who has labelled it a “weird” appointment”, but Myler has explained that he thrives on that pressure.

“I like when there’s a bit of conjecture and there’s a bit of adversity and a bit of doubt,” he explained.

“I like that. I’ve had a career of that. I’ve had a career of people thinking I couldn’t do a certain role and I couldn’t perform in a certain way. I like that.

“That gives me the hunger and the desire to prove people wrong. I feel that as a club we’ve got the ambition and the ability to take that on head on and that’s what I feel like doing.”