Manly Sea Eagles have moved to clarify Jon Clarke’s position following an announcement made by Hull FC earlier this week.
The Black and Whites proudly announced the appointment of Clarke on Wednesday evening, with the former Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves man taking up a ‘high performance consultant’ role with the club.
The deal was described as a ‘huge coup’ by director of rugby Richie Myler, with a press release from the club stating Clarke will be working closely with incoming head coach John Cartwright and chief conditioner Tom Bennett.
However, it has now emerged that he won’t actually be in East Yorkshire next season. In fact he will be based 10,500 miles away in Sydney, with Clarke retaining his role as head of performance at NRL club Manly.
The 45-year-old will balance both roles, with Manly releasing a statement to confirm he will be staying in northern Sydney.
“Manly Warringah Sea Eagles wishes to advise that its head of performance Jon Clarke will remain at the club in 2025,” a statement published on their website read.
“Clarke did an outstanding job in his first season at Manly in 2024 working under head coach Anthony Seibold and will continue in this role next year.
“The club wanted to advise this news to our members and supporters to avoid any confusion after Hull FC announced overnight that Clarke will be joining them as their high performance consultant ahead of the 2025 season.
“Clarke will act as a consultant for Hull FC with his primary role being with the Sea Eagles.”
Speaking to the Black and Whites after agreeing to take on the role, Clarke said: “It’s going to be great to be able to work with a club like Hull FC for the next three years and I’m really grateful to Richie and Carty for the opportunity.
“There’s a lot of work ahead of us with the squad, especially in terms of strength and speed development. There’s also certainly work to be done to help keep our best players on the pitch and that is hopefully where I can help Tom Bennett and the rest of the high performance team to deliver.
“I’ve been involved with Rugby League for 35 years, and I’ve been a Head of Performance internationally in both codes of rugby for the last ten years. Now I feel it is my opportunity to give something back to the game in a different way with this new role with Hull FC – one I am very much looking forward to.”