Hull FC announced the signing of Jake Clifford last week and now head coach Tony Smith has provided an injury update on the half-back.
Clifford, who arrives from Newcastle Knights with big expectations from the Old Faithful, broke his arm in August which ruled him out of the remainder of the NRL season.
Despite this, Smith has revealed that the 24-year-old is on track with his recovery and will be eased into pre-season training, which begins on Monday (November 7), ahead of the start of next season.
“Jake (Clifford) is fine,” said Smith. “He is training. We won’t put him on full contact at the moment but he will be in pre-season training. He will be fine.”
The new FC boss also provided an update on the rest of his squad after the club ended last season with an extensive injury list.
“We have got a number of players, including Jake Trueman who is recovering form an ACL, that will be there or there abouts in round one.
“There will be some that will make it on time and there will be a couple that don’t. We won’t have too many that will miss the start of the season.
“If we do have some miss it, it will only be a couple. Everyone is progressing and there has been no setbacks so touch wood there will be no accidents, but hopefully we can prevent those.
“We look to be pretty much full scale by the time we get back.”
It has been confirmed this evening that Hull will host Castleford in Round One, in what will be Smith’s first competitive game in charge, before a trip to face old club Leeds Rhinos in the second week of the season.
