Brett Hodgson’s tenure in charge of Hull FC couldn’t have gotten off to a brighter start.
His side were playing good rugby and winning games as 2021 started. He guided them to the early top four as they made their way into the Challenge Cup semi-finals defeating Wigan in the quarter-finals.
However, that all unravelled in the second half of the season as the Black and Whites slipped out of the play-offs all the way into eighth place two spots behind rivals Hull KR.
So, 2022 is a big season for Hodgson and his side as they look to rewrite the wrongs of last year and Hodgson is looking forward to getting his squad working hard in the New Year with some exciting friendlies waiting round the corner.
Hodgson voiced this in an interview on the club’s official website stating: “We’ll get into the phase of playing our rugby.
“Our first friendly is on 16th January, so we’ll be starting preparations for that when we return from the Christmas break.
“This moment of the year can be really difficult where you don’t have games to look forward to, so the New Year should bring a lot of enjoyment to the players.”
He also spoke highly of new signings Kane Evans and Joe Lovodua both of whom arrived in the country in the last month. Hodgson believes they’ve had a positive impact upon the rest of the squad, which he believed was vitally important after an ‘unacceptable’ finish to 2021.
He said: “They have been superb since they have arrived. Their talk is good and they are both bubbly around the group, which is really good.
“The most important thing, though, is that they’re good players. So they are fitting in really nicely having only been here for a short period of time.
“Everyone in the group has been standing up in one way or another, though. The standard has risen again – players are pushing each other harder than they did in our last pre-season.
“We needed to attain those levels because the way we ended last season was just not acceptable. But from what I have seen from the boys so far, I’m really looking forward to us taking that into the start of the new season.”
