Fan favourite Carlos Tuimavave has spoken publicly for the first time since he announced his retirement, including all things Hull FC with his move to the UK and the club’s Challenge Cup success addressed.
Tuimavave announced earlier this month that he was hanging up the boots with the 34-year-old bringing an end to his career having last played in early 2025.
The New Zealand-born back didn’t actually retire at Hull FC with Featherstone Rovers his last club but it is Hull FC where he is best remembered, making over 180 appearances across nine seasons.
Speaking on League Lounge hosted by Kiwi legend Shaun Johnson, Tuimavave explained the motivation behind first moving to England and signing with Hull FC, revealing a fellow former Black and Whites man as key in orchestrating the move.
“There were a lot of factors in me moving over there,” Tuimavave revealed.
“My time at the Warriors probably didn’t end how I wanted it to and I probably wasn’t in the best headspace, I probably wasn’t enjoying my football.
“Then I went to Newcastle and it was probably the same. I had a hard look in the mirror and just realised I was going through the cycle and probably needed a big change.
“The opportunity arose there at Hull FC. Ex-Warrior Motu Tony was the general manager at the time at Hull FC and gave me a call through that first season at Newcastle and mentioned about me going over there to get week-in week-out first-grade footy.”
Tuimavave not only made the move to England but also changed his entire focus with the birth of his son tying in with the transfer.
“I thought that would have benefited me a lot so I went over there and went off-grid. I stopped using social media and it gave me time to recreate myself, find myself and really focus on the important things.
“My son was born and my purpose had changed as well. The main reason for going over there was to recreate myself and it pretty much started my journey again.”
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What next for Hull FC hero Carlos Tuimavave
It’s not just the 182 appearances that Tuimavave is remembered for but in particular two of those games, namely the Challenge Cup finals in 2016 and 2017 where the Black and Whites went back-t-back.
Recalling that, the 34-year-old said: “My first year over there we go to the Challenge Cup final and there’s this word going around camp that we’ve got this ‘hoodoo’.
“The hoodoo was that Hull FC had never won at Wembley before. They’d been there seven times but they had never won.
“Us going there and winning it that year is probably the equivalent of the Warriors winning an NRL premiership.
“We won it the first year and then next year we go back again. We went up against Wigan, win that game and we partied even harder.”
He also had plenty to say about the Hull FC fans and crowds in England, stating: “We’d always say they’re the best fans in the world. The noise they made, you know when you have those tough moments in game and they’d get behind you. Sometimes they got us home.
“To play in front of crowds like that and experience it, not many get to experience it. It’s something special.”
As for what is next, he revealed he’s set to move into real estate, just as former Hull KR man Lachlan Coote has done, with Tuimavave explaining: “I’m actually halfway through getting my real estate licence. During my time in the UK, I took an interest in property and I started making some investments and buying and flipping property.”
