Hull FC star signing signals intent for team that’s ‘thrown the towel in’ in 2024, claims pundit

Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has had his say on Super League strugglers Hull FC signing NRL winger Jordan Rapana.

It’s a signing that Wilkin has got behind with the Hull-born forward citing Rapana as a “quality recruit” for a team that is in desperate need of help.

Rapana becomes the seventh new signing for Hull FC ahead of the 2025 season with other recruits including John Asiata, Zak Hardaker, Oliver Holmes and Amir Bourouh.

The former New Zealand international has made over 200 NRL appearances, almost all of which came for Canberra Raiders, and will add versatility and experience among the backs for the Black and Whites.

Most importantly, he will bring effort which is something that Hull FC have been accused of lacking at times this year and that was one of the key facets of Rapana’s game that Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin highlighted when speaking about the signing on The Verdict.

Wilkin argued: “He’s a quality recruit and he’s just the sort of player that they need. He competes so hard, he’s been at the top of his game for such a long time.”

The 2024 campaign marked the last as a Raider for Rapana, as it did for Elliott Whitehead too who FC missed out on with the Englishman returning to Catalans for his Super League swansong.

Wilkin hails ‘shrewd’ signing as Hull FC looks to turn over new leaf

Hull FC will be desperate for the pre-season to start so that they can unite with new head coach John Cartwright and start looking forward as opposed to plodding along in this disastrous 2024 season.

That’s something that Jon Wilkin has noted and also clearly wants as he highlighted how important a strong Hull FC team is to Super League. That said, he argued they’d need far more than just Jordan Rapana and the current crop of recruits.

Wilkin argued: “I think it’s a really shrewd piece of work in the transfer market for Hull FC, that being said, it’s needed isn’t it? Because they’re rooted, joint-bottom of the table.

“We all want to see a really successful Hull FC. I think they add such a lot to our competition, so the signing of Jordan Rapana really is a signal that they’re looking to improve.

“You can’t help but think though they’re going to need a few more. John Asiata is on board, Zak Hardaker is on board, but I think we may be seeing a few more big bits of news coming out of Hull FC over the coming weeks, just to bolster that squad going into 2025, because they need it. They really need it.”

‘Thrown the towel in’ – Wilkin digs out Hull FC over ’embarrassing’ performance

Proof of the fact they need that help is the fact that FC have won just three of their 25 Super League games in 2024, shipping over 800 points of which 68 came last week when they were decimated by Leeds Rhinos.

As part of Wilkin’s ‘Good, bad and ugly’ review of the recent Super League round, Wilkin referred back to that huge defeat arguing that it was the loss of a team who had “thrown the towel in” on the current campaign. Perhaps that highlights why the signing of a leader like Rapana will be so necessary.

“I’ve just been talking about, Hull FC, they got pumped by Leeds in a capitulation at the end of the year that was sort of embarrassing to watch. Credit to Leeds, they dismantled Hull FC but Hull FC look like they’ve thrown the towel in on this 2024 season and it’s a season that they’d like to forget.” Wilkin concluded.