Hull FC recruitment update as John Cartwright eyes addition in key position

Hull FC boss John Cartwright has his eyes peeled for an experienced middle to add to his squad in the coming months. With Hull being the first Super League side to start pre-season training ahead of the 2025 Super League season, Cartwright has had just over a week with his players at the club’s University of Hull Training Hub.

The Australian has been boosted by nine new signings, with several of them joining in training from day one last week. The likes of Jordan Rapana, Aidan Sezer and John Asiata will get mixed in with their new teammates in the coming weeks, and with the additions he has made to the group, Cartwright is feeling content with his squad as it stands.

However, the club have left themselves the room on the salary cap to make more additions if needed and while the head coach doesn’t see it as a necessity right now, he believes his pack might just be one senior man light.

“Yeah, I suppose just assessing the squad, it’s different watching the players to then coming and actually getting to know them,” Cartwright said during his first press conference in charge of the Black and Whites when asked about the possibility of recruitment.

“Our middle forwards are probably an area that we could just have a bit of experience in. I don’t know where we sit with that and our quota spots are full so it’s something that we’ll constantly assess as we go.

“At the moment we’re all healthy so there’s not an issue there. With your middles, it’s a really tough position to play and you only get better with experience, so we’ve got some young guys there that are going to get time against men but probably need that time before they’re going to be established Super League players.”

Rapana is the most high profile man arriving at the MKM Stadium for the 2025 season, with Cartwright playing a key role in landing the former New Zealand international, who made over 200 appearances for Canberra Raiders before agreeing to join Hull FC.

“I’m really excited about Jordan Rapana getting here, not just for what he brings on the field,” Cartwright added. “Canberra would have kept him this year, they only wanted to offer him a one-year deal. I’m good mates with Ricky Stuart he said if you offer him two we won’t stand in his way, he wanted a two-year deal.

“He is just a competitor, he is a fierce competitor, he expects that out of everyone on the field. He won’t be here for another week or a week and a bit, but I know in his first training session he’s going to get out there and try and win everything and that spreads.

“If you’ve got players dropping out of things, it spreads, but if you’ve got competitors and Aidan Sezer is very similar, Zak Hardaker very similar, just guys out there who don’t want to lose, they want to win. The more of those you get on the field, the more competitive we’re going to be.”