‘Done pretty well’ – New Hull FC boss discusses 2025 signings

New Hull FC head coach John Cartwright has spoken on the club’s recruitment for 2025 and outlined the key attributes the club have signed.

In his first interview since arriving in the UK, John Cartwright has opened up on the 2024 season, his coaching ambitions and philosophy and of course, what fans can expect in 2025.

After a season where they marginally avoided the wooden spoon as they picked up just three wins, all any Hull FC fan will be hoping for is an improvement but Cartwright has spoken optimistically about the upcoming campaign.

Confirming that pre-season begins on Tuesday, the former Brisbane Broncos assistant also discussed the club’s recruitment for the 2025 season and began by underpinning just how important signing the right players is.

“On the back of last year we definitely had to add. I think you lost four of your recruits before round 12 last year,” Cartwright explained as he referenced the exits of Nu Brown, Jayden Okunbor, Franklin Pele and Damel Diakhate.

“You bring those guys in and you place a lot of confidence in them to turn your side around, so when you lose four, it’s a tough ask for the rest of the club to perform.

“It gives other guys opportunities but you bring those guys in for a reason and that’s to get your club into a semi-final position. Losing four was a massive loss.”

How Hull FC recruited their NRL stars

Cartwright clearly doesn’t want the same to happen in 2025 and he explained that a ‘fair bit of work’ went into the recruitment process for the upcoming season, as Hull FC bought experience, reliability and then some star factor from the NRL.

He explained: “With the young guys that came in I think it was really important that we added some hard heads who not only teach you how to play but teach you how to behave, they teach you how to be a man, they teach you to be a good club mate.

“There’s a fair bit of work that has gone into who we’ve actually signed. It’s pretty hard to recruit from the NRL at the moment. The game has changed over there a lot in recent years. There’s a lot of money around. To get them over here, it’s quite difficult so I think we’ve done pretty well.”

One of those NRL signings was former Leeds Rhinos man Aiden Sezer who earned his debut under Cartwright back at Gold Coast Titans.

On that signing, the 59-year-old explained: “It was a bit later in the year, a lot of the clubs had already done their recruiting. Having lost Trueman, I thought we needed a halfback who was going to give us direction and experience and a good kicking game. Aidan’s had a really good year at the Tigers.

“They’re a club that has invested heavily in halves, but he was their first choice every week when he was available. I have worked with him at the Titans, and gave him his debut back in I think 2012.”

The other major NRL recruit brought into Hull FC was Jordan Rapana, the Canberra Raiders legend who can play either full-back or on the wing.

One thing that Cartwright has touted the veteran to do is compete and improve the young squad that Hull FC have.

“Jordan Rapana was still playing first grade at the Raiders and they were very keen to keep him there for a year. They’ve got some good young talent there and they thought that a year was long enough, he wanted two years. Knowing the competitor that Jordan is, I’m sure at the end of two years he’ll want another two years.

“When he runs onto that field he just wants to win. I think that’s invaluable with the squad that we have, with the young squad that we have. As I said, they don’t just go out there and play, they bring these young fellas along and they make them better players.