Hull FC man’s future update amid ‘mind made up’ claim

Danny Houghton has a firm idea of whether he will play on beyond the end of the Super League season. That’s the belief of Hull FC interim boss Simon Grix, who is hopeful of seeing the hooker return from injury in the coming weeks as the Black and Whites edge towards the end of the campaign.

Houghton, who turns 36 next month, has been struggling with a calf problem and hasn’t featured for the club since round 16 when he limped out of a clash with Salford Red Devils at the Salford Stadium. The injury was expected to keep him out for around six weeks, meaning he could return to action in time to have a say on the final rounds of the season.

The hooker is yet to announce a decision one way or the other, but he did hint to Hull Live in autumn that this season could be his last. Houghton will be allowed to communicate his choice in his own time, of course, what that will be, though, remains to be seen.

“I think as it stands, he’s probably not looking any further than getting out of rehab and into the rugby,” Grix told Serious About Rugby League regarding the club captain’s future. “If he is to finish this year he gets the happy ending to go out on the field.

“I think he’s preparing himself for life after rugby and I’m pretty sure he’s made his mind up about what he would like to do but I’m sure he’ll confirm that at the right time. We want to see him out on that pitch first.”

He added: “I generally think someone who has served your club so well and been around that long, they know when it’s time. If he didn’t feel like he could go around then he wouldn’t do it for the sake of it.”

Houghton has been with Hull FC throughout the entirety of his career, making his debut for the club in 2007 and racking up some 448 appearances in black and white since. That’s enough to put him fourth in Hull’s all-time top appearance makers behind Harold Bowman, Mick Scott and Ned Rogers.