Three reasons why Paul Rowley will accept Hull FC job

It’s looking increasingly likely that Salford Red Devils head coach Paul Rowley will be the man to replace Tony Smith at Hull FC.

Under Smith, the Black and Whites had a troubled start to the season, winning just one of their seven games in Super League and conceding a club-record number of points in the process.

Huge defeats at the hands of Huddersfield Giants and Leigh Leopards, as well as embarrassing derby defeats to Hull KR, meant it seemed an inevitability that change would happen.

They face Leeds Rhinos on Sunday,

Paul Rowley’s Salford side, meanwhile, have had a strange season – fantastic performances, and victories, against Hull KR and St Helens towards the start of the year gave fans real hope that a repeat of the 2022 season could be achieved.

However, poor performances against Castleford Tigers, who picked up their first (and so far, only) win of the season against them, and winless London Broncos have shown that this side may not be capable of mixing with the very best at the moment.

Despite this, Rowley has long been regarded as one of the most exciting coaches in the league, which begs the question: why would he take the Hull FC job?

A humiliating dismissal live on-air for club icon Lee Radford, and Tony Smith’s lack of support, have made the head coach role at the MKM Stadium seem to be a poisoned chalice in recent years.

However, below are some suggestions to the contrary.

Rowley is used to tough jobs

After doing a good job at Leigh Centurions, where he won back-to-back Championship titles, Rowley took the inaugural head coach role at Toronto Wolfpack.

This was far from taking the easy option – a North American rugby league team was a complete unknown, and added to this, flying across the Atlantic week in, week out must really take a toll.

On the field, it was a different story – the significant financial backing compared to their peers makes it hard to truly determine what his impact was – but everything else made it a move that showed that he’s willing to try different things.

The Salford job is also far from an easy one.

In 2022, his first season at the club, they started poorly, falling to 10th in Super League.

However, an unbelievable run of form towards the end of the campaign lifted them all the way to the playoffs, making it to the semi-finals after defeating Huddersfield Giants, who finished third, 28-0.

Despite the early-season adversity, Rowley helped his side through it all, and achieved great things. This has all been done under tough constraints, with the constant sale of the club’s best players making the Salford job one of the toughest in the league.

For this season, Rowley was forced to lose star men Andy Ackers and Brodie Croft due to the club’s financial situation, but he still has the Red Devils ahead of Leeds, the club they signed for, in the Super League table.

He isn’t afraid of tough jobs, and he does well when faced with them.

Hull FC is absolutely a tough job, but if history is anything to go by, this wouldn’t be a deal-breaker: he would relish it.

He’d likely be backed at Hull FC

The club, according to Hull Live, are paying £150,000 to bring Rowley to the club: they clearly have faith that he’s right for the job, and are willing to put significant investment into him.

If they’re willing to do that, it surely makes sense that they’d be willing to put money into new signings, such as a half-back to pair with Jake Trueman.

The new investment, reportedly from the Thirkill family, would make this even more possible.

Being backed recruitment-wise is any head coach’s dream.

He’s got a clean slate to work with

Nu Brown and Tex Hoy have already left the club this season, leaving FC with an estimated £1 million cap space to work with.

Danny Houghton is retiring at the end of the season, leaving a vacancy for a hooker, and 14 players will be out-of-contract at the end of the campaign, leaving much of the 2025 squad up to Rowley and new Director of Rugby Richie Myler.

Myler, despite not having non-playing experience, is a fresh pair of eyes that knows the game well, and with this being a first non-playing role for him, he’ll be eager to be a success.

More immediately though, Hull FC’s two available quota spots give Rowley the opportunity to make immediate signings for a new-look Hull FC side.