Hull FC head coach John Cartwright has confirmed that he is ‘supremely confident’ that his side will improve on their 2025 season, however, he has stopped short of publicly declaring what the club’s expectations are.
What he has said though is that there are ‘high expectations’ within the group and that would surely mean that the Black and Whites are intent on making the play-offs for the first time since 2020, with that being the longest drought of any Super League side bar Castleford and the three promoted teams.
Hull FC came three points short in 2025 as they simply ran out of steam with injuries impacting them heavily across the season, particularly late on and that was something that John Cartwright noted when speaking on Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast.
He said: “On what we were able to do last year, and I’m not the sort of coach to look for excuses, but I really do believe that if we had stayed 75% healthy then we would have played finals footy last year.
“I’m supremely confident that we can improve on last year and the feeling that winning gives you is why we do it.”
2025 season bred confidence that Hull FC can ‘do something special’
Recalling the 2025 season, Cartwright pointed to a period of games when his side was in good health with performances good enough to convince him that his side could ‘do something special’.
Cartwright said: “There were stages last year where we had Will Pryce in, John Asiata back in, Aidan (Sezer) was playing, Amir Bourouh was playing, Liam Knight was a recent addition to the squad and we had some really good results, in particular against Warrington away and then Leigh away and home.
“There were periods there where I felt we were getting better every week and getting players back on the paddock so I felt if we can just keep this team together for seven or eight games, then we can do something special.”
As for why 2026 can be better, he added: “That’s what I thought last year so we’ve maintained all those guys and they’ve had good pre-seasons. We’ve added to the squad with some senior players, some young players, players from really successful clubs.
“I was really positive about where we could last year so that makes me even more positive going into this year.
“We’ve certainly added to our depth this year which when we get into those (injury-affected) positions will help.”
Such assertions understandably create pressure and expectations but Cartwright wouldn’t be drawn but he did admit that it wouldn’t take a huge improvement to pressure the top teams.
He explained: “Inwardly and as a group, we have high expectations but I won’t go into that because then that does put pressure on you.
“I suppose to put it bluntly we look to improve this year and I don’t think we have to improve much to really impress the best sides.”
The Black and Whites will start their Super League season off with a match at home to Bradford Bulls later tonight.
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