Hull FC recruitment strategy explained as Richie Myler makes ‘one-off’ transfer point

Richie Myler has moved to explain why he has looked to sign older, more experienced heads during his 2025 Hull FC recruitment drive. The Black and Whites have announced six signings ahead of next season, with John Asiata being arguably the most high profile addition so far.

The Leigh Leopards man will be joined at the MKM Stadium next year by his current teammates Zak Hardaker, Oliver Holmes and Ed Chamberlain, with the latter on loan at Hull until the end of the campaign. The signings of Jordan Abdull and Amir Bourouh have also been confirmed, while it is understood Cade Cust will be joining the club, as has been widely reported.

Bourouh is the youngest of the above names with the Salford Red Devils hooker being just 23, while Cust turns 26 next month. Abdull and Chamberlain both turn 29 on the eve of the 2025 campaign and Asiata, Hardaker and Holmes are all over the age of 30.

The hope is that the injection of experience will help Hull find more of an edge next season, but Myler is also keen not to block the path of the raft of promising young talents currently emerging from the club’s academy.

“Those young boys and the ones that are already in our first team, they’ve got a massive opportunity in front of them,” FC’s director of rugby Myler said during a Q&A held for sponsors and media at FC’s new training facility. “With the recruitment that we’ve done for next season, we’ve actually recruited some 30+ boys because I see huge potential in those guys that are the next ones in.

“The next 12-18 months will be really crucial to their development because they need to be taking the spots of the boys that are coming in. That’s fact. They need to develop and push themselves so they can achieve, so your Ryan Westermans and Will Hutchinsons and all those players underneath are pushing the first-team boys.

“When you’re 34 or 35, as I know, you can’t do it, your body starts to have had enough, so we can’t be outsourcing players like we have done this year. This year will be a one-off in my opinion. Next year we can’t be in this situation again.”

Hull FC aren’t done yet in terms of recruitment just yet and while the club have been strongly linked with a move for Leigh’s Lachlan Lam, it seems Myler is looking far and wide in order to add to the finishing touches to next season’s squad in preparation for the arrival of John Cartwright.

“There’s a little bit of work to be done,” he said. “We’re almost there, to be fair. We’ve been linked with every single player and I think that’s just agents shouting it out because they think we’ve got a load of money.

“I’m pretty happy with where we’re going to be at the end of it. There’s a lot of boys that have got an opportunity to grasp and go and earn themselves a contract and more.

“We’ve also got a lot of good young kids coming into our first-team set up that need to take the next step. I’m excited by what that brings.

“We clearly need a bit more experience and that’s where the process has gone just to help develop our younger members of the squad and give them an environment that they can thrive in and further their development.”

Myler added: “I’m sick to death of speaking to Australian agents at 3 o’clock in the morning, it’s driving me insane.”