Hull FC legend Danny Houghton will stay on with his boyhood club into 2025 and beyond, with the 35-year-old’s first post-playing role confirmed.

Hanging his boots up at the end of last season, Houghton called time on an incredible 18-year professional career. The former hooker made a staggering 451 appearances for the club since his 2007 debut and finished his time as a player third on the club’s all-time appearance list.

And now that experience, knowledge, and skill will be passed on to Hull FC’s young up-and-coming players, with Houghton moving into an academy role at the club. He will support the likes of Head of Youth, Richard Tate, and Emerging Talent Coach Francis Cummins in a voluntary coaching consultancy role with the U18s, providing advice and support to the club's bright young stars.

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Elsewhere, the club have also confirmed that Jack Lazenby will support the academy as assistant coach, having been a familiar face across the club over the last few seasons as the Centre of Excellence's Head of Education.

Lazenby, who graduated from the University of Hull in 2019 with a BSC Honours degree in Sports Coaching and Performance, earning international playing honours with England Universities and England Community Lions, has been a part of the club's youth setup for several years and will be a familiar face for many of the young players who also partake in the club's Sports College Education programme.

Meanwhile, Hoiughton, a former Man of Steel and back-to-back Challenge Cup winner, will support the coaching department in a variety of on- and off-field matters. Meanwhile, the academy have finished in fourth place for the last three seasons, with many of their players going on to represent the first-team, the latest of which were Will Kirby, Ryan Westerman, and Callum Kemp.

Tate and Cummins are now working with a new crop of players, with Tate delighted to have both Houghton and Lazenby on board.

"We are really pleased to have Jack and Danny onboard to help support Francis Cummins and help develop our next generation of potential," Tate said. "Franny has a real love for the game and a drive to develop our clubs’ junior players. That drive and desire is infectious, and it’s fantastic to see that same mindset in both Jack and Danny in the early weeks of our Academy pre-season.

"Jack provided some valuable ideas and insight for last year's junior playing groups while he was combining his ever-growing coaching enthusiasm alongside playing for West Hull ARLFC in the NCL Premier Division.

"And Danny has been an ideal role model for so many aspiring Rugby League players in and around the Hull area for so many years, and it’s great to see that he has volunteered to take his playing and leadership experience and transition that into the coaching environment."

Cummins will move into his second year with Hull in 2025, while Tate moved into the club’s Head of Youth role this summer. He has coached the scholarship side for several years, having first worked at the club a decade ago.

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