John Cartwright can’t wait to welcome Sam Lisone into his Hull FC ranks for next season.
Lisone has penned a two-year deal with the Black and Whites, turning down the chance to stay at Leeds Rhinos in order to take up the lucrative offer from the East Yorkshire side. As such, he will make the move across to Hull at the end of the Super League season and join a pack line up that is shaping up to be one of the biggest the competition has to offer.
Lisone is in his third year with the Rhinos and he appears to be getting better with this season being his most impressive. In 20 appearances he has touched down on seven occasions with his effort against Hull KR being his most recent.
Cartwright will be focusing his energy on this season, of course, with nine games remaining and the possibility of a play-off campaign still very much in Hull’s hands. However, the head coach is very excited to have Lisone joining the group for 2026.
“I think it’s an area of the game that’s going to make us better,” Cartwright said. “He’s a very strong carrier, he’s a tackle breaker and a try scorer and I think in the right environment he’s going to be a danger for whoever he signed with. Fortunately he’s chosen Hull FC.”
Hull FC pack shaping up well
Lisone will be playing alongside Herman Ese’ese and Liam Knight next season, with the latter thought to have penned a deal to stay with Hull for next year and beyond. And, their respective second half performances against Wakefield Trinity showed just what they’re capable of as they laid the platform for a comeback win with powerful showings through the middle.
Knight made 146 metres in 21 carries during the contest, while also managed 40 tackles. Ese’ese on the other hand racked up 180m with the ball in hand and plenty of those came after contact.
“They’re able to play those sorts of minutes, and thank God that they did because we were in all sorts of trouble with our interchange,” Cartwright said on Thursday night at the MKM Stadium.
“It was just the energy and right across the board—I thought our outside backs did a tremendous job early in the tackle count. The kick chase was really good in the second half, and it just gave us some field position to play a bit of football.”
