Hull FC head coach John Cartwright has heavily praised his two assistant coaches and noted the club’s unique squad dynamic ahead of the 2025 season.
The Black and Whites are still yet to play a game with Cartwright having to wait until February before he takes charge of his first match as Hull FC boss. That fixture will be against Castleford Tigers for Joe Westerman’s testimonial but the fixtures will come thick and fast after that.
Round Three of the Challenge Cup arrives a week later with Hull FC to face either York Acorn or Oulton Raiders, something that Cartwright is excited for as he compared the clash to the recent FA Cup fixtures that pitted lower league sides against Premier League clubs.
After that cup tie, the focus will turn to the Super League with the Black and Whites facing a trip to Catalans in round one. That’s a fixture where Hull may have more insight than most given that former FC coach Andy Last has returned to the MKM Stadium after spending last season working with Steve McNamara in Perpignan.
Cartwright, who arrived in the off-season after leaving his role as Brisbane Broncos assistant, has hailed the importance of both Andy Last and last season’s interim head coach Simon Grix with the pair now serving as his own assistants.
“They’ve been fantastic in a lot of ways,” Cartwright explained when speaking on the club’s YouTube channel.
“They’re very knowledgeable and I’m super impressed with their knowledge of the game and of the players in general across the squad and Super League.
“Their man management, they know when to switch on and when the squad needs a bit of reprieve from pressure. I couldn’t have wished for two better guys to work alongside with when coming in cold.”
Hull FC squad presents “different dynamic” to new head coach
Hull FC boss John Cartwright
The squad that Cartwright is working with is one that has seen plenty of change with FC signing a total of 10 players ahead of 2025 whilst also incorporating a lot of the squad’s young players who had bit part roles in 2024.
Cartwright explained: “It’s a different dynamic to what I’ve been used to in the past. There are so many very young and so many towards the tail end of their career but the advantage we’ve been able to get is young players learning off older players.”
The new boss recently appointed his captain as new signing Aidan Sezer with fellow recruit Josh Asiata set to serve as vice-captain with both men being among the senior figures, as many of the recruits were.
With such a lengthy pre-season, Cartwright explained the process for the final few weeks as they approach the start of competitive games. He also noted his expectations for that sole pre-season clash against Castleford at the Jungle.
“The players are ready to play so it’s about knowing how much to give them at training. It will still be tough,” he explained.
“There aren’t two points on the line against Cas but pretty much everyone here is new, a lot of new staff and players, so I imagine that’s going to be a pretty intense game.
“Then we’ve got a very important Challenge Cup tie which we don’t know when will be played, we could have a short week against Catalans, so as staff there is a lot that we have got to get right leading into those three games.”
