‘Inferior operation’ Hull FC investment failure revealed as club set about ending excuse culture

The first week of Hull FC's pre-season is in the bag and what's become apparent is that at the top of the priority list is creating an environment that is befitting of a Super League club.

It's something many would rightly assume was already in place. The reality, though, is quite different. Put simply, Hull FC's setup has fallen badly behind its rivals in recent years.

Players who have left the club in previous time have noted how, behind the scenes, the club has felt like an inferior operation when compared to other clubs they have been at.

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Hull FC's backroom staff has been significantly smaller than some of their counterparts and resources that many would expect to be a given at a professional level haven't been. Simple things, like a lack of communal area or ice machine, have been pointed out. Others have moaned that the club hasn't provided breakfast. In isolation, they may appear to be insignificant, petty quibbles but when you throw them all together, it creates a wider problem.

Throw that together and it plants the seeds of an excuse culture that many believe has fundamentally been one of the key reasons behind the rut the club currently finds itself in.

That is now being attacked head-on. When the players arrived back for pre-season training this week, changes had been made. When they had lunch last year, they would eat in the university's canteen among students and others sharing the facility, now they have their own communal area that allows them to have dinner together as a group. They're getting fed breakfast now too, in case you were wondering.

Hull FC are hardly breaking ground here but it goes to highlight just how far off the club has been before. Home is starting to feel like home now.

The arrival of new backroom staff has ensured training has been productive and of higher quality. It's certainly addressed the issue of staff shortages. The departures of Tony Smith and Stanley Gene last year saw the club lighter than ever and left interim coach Simon Grix and the rest of the remaining staff with an uphill battle to cover all the required bases to the level they would have wished to reach.

Now though, John Cartwright has arrived and so has Andy Last, back at the club as a new assistant coach. Beyond that, the club's new head physio, Andy Shea, has officially started work with the club, which has helped improve standards in that department. Shea has previously worked with Cardiff City, Manchester United and Newcastle Falcons among others but has a key role in the Black and Whites' new-look setup this year.

Beyond that, the club's new on-site building is up and running. It features changing rooms, a new kitchen, a players lounge, physio room and offices, which have all been kitted out with club branding. Previously, the club was having to put temporary branding up in shared spaces that could be pulled down after they had used areas during their allotted time.

Put simply and somewhat ill-mannered, it's a club that is getting its s**t together. In doing so, the excuses that have been made in the past won't wash anymore and beyond anything else, that is of high importance this off-season.

Cartwright and Richie Myler have been in some top-end environments during their respective careers, with Cartwright most recently at Brisbane and Myler with Leeds and Catalans. You do wonder what Myler thought when he first stepped through the doors, but it's clearly something that has been addressed quickly.

Nobody is pretending such changes will catapult the club into the upper echelons of the Super League table but the hope is that, by providing an environment befitting of a professional club, it will help raise standards and contribute toward improved performances next year.

There's plenty of time between now and the season start but come that first gameday, the intention is that the squad can't point the blame elsewhere. In that sense, it's so far, so good.

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