Jake Clifford believes his spell with Hull FC is the reason why he’s preparing to compete in the NRL finals this weekend.
Clifford spent just one season at the MKM Stadium with Hull after joining the club ahead of the 2023 Super League season following his release from Newcastle Knights. He joined the Black and Whites on a two-year deal, but he stayed at the club just 12 months after securing the chance to return to Australia with North Queensland Cowboys, the club he started his senior career with.
He has been in and out of the fold since then, but Todd Payten gave Clifford the nod last month and the half-back has more than taken his opportunity, helping the club to enter the play-offs on the back of wins over Canberra Raiders, Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs.
As such, Clifford will be the man playing at seven this weekend as the Cowboys face his former club Newcastle in the knockout stages of the NRL and 26-year-old says he owes his current position to the lessons he learned in East Yorkshire.
“I knew I wasn’t done in the NRL – if I could play some good footy I had more to give here,” Clifford said per AAP. “I still had another year at the Knights, but the way some things unfolded in the off-season, there were signs they didn’t want me there.
“I didn’t want to go to a club that didn’t want me. I took the gamble to go overseas with my little family. I just knuckled down for that 10 months, (wanted to) play some good footy and then try and come home. That was always my intention.
He added about the lessons he learned at Hull FC: “I have definitely grown, matured a lot more. It was just the little things to manage in games. I know what strengths I have and what to base my game off. I just understand it a lot clearer.
“I played a bit more ad-lib kind of footy, and it allowed me to play with a bit of confidence. The coaching staff let me have free rein. They opened my game up.”
