"I'm a player's player," Jed Cartwright smirked when asked if he told the crack to new Hull FC head coach and father John Cartwright prior to his arrival at the club last month. "There's no dirt here."

This pre-season has been a career first for the Cartwrights, with the father-and-son duo working in a professional environment for the very first time. And for Jed, it's only helped the connection with his dad, but also for the rest of the squad too, who have been big on cohesion and team spirit this winter.

Two similar people with similar personalities, Jed's arrival back in June, with the back rower playing five Super League games at the back end of last season, gave his teammates a taste of what to expect. And that has helped the squad adapt to a new way of doing things under a new head coach.

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"It's been really good," Cartwright, speaking to Hull Live, continued. "We both know how each other works, but it has been good to finally work with him. It's been something that I've always wanted to do, and it's good that the chance has finally come.

"He's always coached me from afar, I guess, especially when I was growing up, so there's a little bit of similarity there that I've already seen, so it's been good. I think people had a sense that they already knew him as they already knew me. We're both pretty similar people, so it's probably helped him develop relationships with some of the players a bit quicker."

Those relationships are starting to blossom in training with the squad in week seven of pre-season before the Christmas break. Working hard on conditioning, wrestling, and the ruck, the squad will step up their preparations even further in the new year. And for Cartwright, there's belief, belief in his father's messages and in his teammates, who are hellbent on righting the wrongs of last season's 11th place finish with a much stronger campaign.

"There's a lot of belief here; there has to be," Cartwright explained. "If you don't believe, then you're not going to go anywhere. We've had a good six weeks, and we're starting to get familiar with each other and familiar with what we're trying to do as a team.

"A little bit of time off will help the boys recover, and then come January, we'll come back and really get stuck into the football side of things. We'll definitely go up a level in intensity in the new year. You have to get your body tuned for the season and the brutality of the games coming up. Things will definitely take a step up and get a bit quicker around training with a bit of flow rather than learning and coaching, so I'm looking forward to that.

"It's been really tough so far, but it's good. We've got a couple of days left, and then we're off for Christmas. But we'll be raring to go again come January."

And for the forward, on a personal note, there's a drive to be the best he can be come the start of the season, with the Australian focusing on the defensive side of his game before opening up in attack and showing what he can do.

"I'm all fit and healthy, and I really just want to hit the ground running when the season starts," Cartwright said. "This will be the first time in a long time that I've actually started the season, so I want to start well, get my defence right in the first couple of rounds, which is what everyone is sort of after, and then that match fitness comes, and hopefully my attack can take over from there."

He added: "We've got a tough start, Catalans and Wigan, but we will learn a lot about ourselves in those two rounds. We'll see where we're at early and see just how fit we are and how this pre-season will pay us back into the coming season. Sure, they are two hard rounds to start, but that's also exciting."

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