“Full control” – Richie Myler on his role and qualifications plus how shock appointment happened

Newly-appointed Director of Rugby Richie Myler has explained how he came to take on the role and what exactly his qualifications are for the job.

Richie Myler was a shock appointment to the role given his lack of experience working behind the scenes in rugby league, however, he has claimed that is counteracted by his 18 years in the professional environment.

In his first interview since taking the role, he told Hull FC’s YouTube channel exactly how the surprise appointment happened after having previously explained that he hadn’t intended to go down the coaching route.

He said: “Well it was more of a mutual thing between me and Adam. I expressed a desire for a role as such and I saw an opportunity. Obviously, we haven’t been playing well enough and Adam felt like he needed a different perspective and he needed a different strategy to get himself out of the situation we were in.

“So it was more of a mutual conversation between the two of us and I outlined a plan for him that I could see working and he believed in it and I believe in it and hopefully between us we can deliver that.”

With Hull FC in such dire straits at the moment on the field with just one win from seven in Super League there’s plenty to be done, something that Myler is well aware of as he’s underlined the importance of the “collective” effort to right the wrongs.

“Like I say the only way it works is if it’s a collective. There’s no magical wand that you can swing and it turns overnight. It’s not going to turn overnight but I think if we solidify everything and bring everything together ultimately we’ll achieve what we want to achieve.”

Richie Myler to have “full control” of all rugby operations

It was first revealed that Hull FC were to appoint a Director of Rugby by chairman Adam Pearson who had told BBC Humberside last Friday that he wouldn’t be the man appointing Tony Smith’s successor, instead explaining he had a Director of Rugby lined up for the role.

Pearson had promised an appointment by Tuesday and that was met with Richie Myler officially confirmed on Monday with the ex-Leeds Rhinos man claiming that the role was “too exciting to turn down”.

Myler has now explained what his role will entail: “I said to Adam I said if we’re going to do this, it needs to be a full role of, I need to have full control of the performance side and the rugby side.

“Now there’s some very key people at this club that are very critical to how this club runs, but effectively I’ll have full control of all rugby operations, all the way from our senior team, all the way down to our juniors.

“That just gives me the control and the leadership and direction that helps everyone follow. Like I said, there’s a lot of experienced players and staff members in this organisation who will have far more experience than me in certain roles. I’ll lean on them as much as I can and together will be the way that we do it.”

Richie Myler’s qualifications for the role

Understandably there have been questions over Myler’s appointment with the latest coming from Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin who has described it as a “weird appointment”, but Myler has insisted that he has the expertise.

He explained: “There’s a million and one qualifications you can go and get for business degrees and stuff, but I think my 18 years of experience of being in the rugby environment, being in a very high pressured environment, in some very big clubs, that are run really well (is my qualification).

“Also, I’ve been interested in how those clubs have been run well and I’ve been a student of that really. I’ve listened to every meeting and I’ve listened to every CEO and really just been a sponge of how they’ve done it and how they’ve run it.”

He earmarked Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington as one of those that he has leaned on plenty, adding: “Gary Hetherington has run Leeds successfully for a very, very long period of time and I’ve picked his brain on numerous occasions of how they’ve been able to sustain a business model and that’s ultimately what they’ve done. They’ve been self-sufficient for a long period of time and successful is the balance I’m trying to get.”