Jamie Shaul opens up on his Hull FC exit, Tony Smith and why he’s signed for Goole Vikings

Jamie Shaul thought his days as a rugby league player were over when he left Hull FC at the end of the 2023 Super League season. The 32-year-old had grown disillusioned with the game after spending his last three seasons on the peripheries of the Black and Whites squad.

A knee injury saw Shaul frustratingly sidelined for much of the 2021 season under Brett Hodgson. However, he made just 11 appearances the following season before joining Wakefield Trinity on loan and after finding himself down the pecking order in 2023 under then head coach Tony Smith, the full-back made the bold choice to call time on his professional career at the age of 31.

Working as a bricklayer and playing rugby union part-time, Shaul was happily retired. That all changed, though, when he received a phone call a few weeks ago from his good friend and former Hull teammate Scott Taylor, who has taken up the head coach reins at Goole Vikings, rugby league’s newest professional club.

That one conversation was enough to reignite the fire in Shaul’s belly and he now finds himself preparing to re-enter the 13-man code at the bottom rung of the ladder having put pen to paper on a deal with the Vikings.

“Tag rang me, told me the situation about the job and as soon as I knew it was him, it turned my head,” Shaul said, speaking exclusively to Serious About RL. “Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying union but I’m a league lad deep down and I missed the grind of league. Union is completely different.

“Hull RUFC is a great club and it made me feel welcome. It’s something I needed at that time in my life. It was hard to tell them I wasn’t carrying on playing but when Tag rang me… I don’t think I would have done it if it was anyone else. He’s one of my closest mates from rugby and one of the reasons I signed. To help him be successful there will be my job done.

“I feel great and mentally it’s probably the best I’ve ever been in my life. At the end of my career I couldn’t have thought of anything worse than carrying on playing at the time when I retired, but sitting back now and looking at it, I’m better in my own head, my mental health is the best it’s ever been.

“I enjoy going to work and then coming home and spending time with my family. I’ve been grafting. I love that as well. People might think I’m weird for saying it but I actually do enjoy getting my hands dirty and doing my own thing on a night.”

With two Challenge Cup wins, 200 appearances and 102 tries under his belt, you’d be hard pushed to find a Hull fan who doesn’t still think highly of Shaul and what he gave to the club during his decade at the MKM Stadium. The full-back’s record ensures he must be regarded as one of the best backs the club have had in the Super League era. So how does he reflect on how his time with Hull FC came to an end?

“It was weird because obviously I wasn’t playing,” he said. “Ever since Radders left really, I suffered my injury and then I didn’t get along with Hodgson.

“Tony came in, I liked Tony as a guy but we didn’t see eye to eye and he had people in front of me who I felt I was better than. Obviously he thought otherwise.

“It was tough, I got into the mode of accepting the fact I wasn’t going to play and I just used to train and then have the weekends to myself. I did it for pushing on three years and you can only take so much. I was just there picking up a wage really because I wasn’t going to play.

“I finally played against Saints and played well and he dropped me a couple of weeks after, it was after that I was like ‘I’m done now’. He was trying to make me play reserves but when you’re at that age, it’s the last thing you want.”

A year on from making that call, Shaul has a new lease of life as he prepares to start pre-season training with his new teammates on December 1. He’ll make the short journey from Hull to the banks of the River Ouse twice a week to train after work before game days on the weekend and it’s fair to say his excitement is palpable.

“I’ve never played [League One] standard,” he added. “I’m just looking forward to playing league again. I’ll be surrounded by good blokes and I know Tag’s not daft, he’ll bring players in who are good blokes and hopefully we gel well as a team and it’s just one of them where you’re enjoying it and the wins take care of themselves.

“If you think there’s Hull FC and Rovers here, what’s the next closest team, Cas? If they can move the club forward I think they could be onto a great thing. It’s quite exciting. I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t sold on the project, it seems quite exciting, especially with Clarky (former Hull FC CEO) and Tag involved, the club can only go up I reckon.”