Hull star unsure on future

Danny Houghton is very much part of the furniture at Hull FC, but he doesn’t know if he will get another opportunity to reach a Challenge Cup semi-final with the club at the age of 32.

“You don’t know when these opportunities will come; we’re one game from walking out at Wembley so it’s a special occasion,” Houghton said.

“I’ve only had limited chances along the way in my career, but you’ve got to grab it with two hands and put everything into it.”

If Hull are to reach the Challenge Cup final then they will need to improve on their showing against St Helens last weekend.

“Obviously, we were not good enough Friday night and we’ve looked at those areas and training has been really good.

“There’s been a spring in our step with it being semi-final week – you know what’s at stake and I’ve been there and tasted it and you want that taste again.

“We’re coming up against the benchmark team, but we’re confident that if we turn up we will have a chance.

“We will tweak a few things, obviously we have our style and the way of playing which we like, we’re confident that if we perform to our best in our system then we will put in a good performance.

“We’ve been doing some really good things over the past 7-8 weeks so to change too much would be stupid.

“We need to get back to what we’ve been doing well in the past few weeks, we’ve trained really hard on tweaking those areas.

“From 1-17 we all need to be top of our game, the club has thrived in this environment and we’re looking to do that again.

“You don’t want to overkill it and dress it up too much, everyone around the place understands the importance of the game and how big a game it is for the club.”

Houghton was part of the Hull side that won back-to-back Challenge Cup titles in 2016 and 2017 and he says he wants to do it for the city that has suffered so much in the past year or so.

“To repeat 2016 and 2017 in what’s been such a poor year in the city and country, it would be a new chapter after COVID.

“We’re such a close knit city and to see what’s happened to it has been really bad – hopefully we can see the light now and those that have been hit the hardest can make small little steps to rebuilding their life.

“I had COVID myself, but to be fair it wasn’t too bad for me.

“I can understand that those that have had it have suffered, I was lethargic and not myself so to speak.

“It’s been pretty devastating really.”