Richie Myler fronted the rugby league press at Hull FC's media day on Monday. Here's some highlights from the briefing, with the club chief addressing John Cartwright's impact, the squad's environment, new identity, playing in Las Vegas, his critics, and transitioning to CEO.

It's been a long pre-season. How has it been so far?

RM: Really good. Everyone has come into an environment that's been fit for purpose. That's helped create a sense of ownership and accountability. John has driven that and the whole thing. It's been a tough pre-season but they all seem to have bought into the journey and the challenge, which is the exciting part for me.

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What has John Cartwright brought to the club?

RM: A bit of steel. He's a very calm person. That's one of the things I have taken from him. I always feel that you have to have a respectable fear of your head coach; the best ones I ever worked with—Tony Smith, when I was a young player, was fantastic with his standards and the way that he led a group. He very much empowered the senior boys to lead on the technicalities of how the team was going to play.

Our group has a lot of experience—Aidan Sezer, John Asiata, and Jordan Rapana—they know how they want to play, so it's more about managing that environment, which I think John has got. He's a big six-foot-four bloke. He doesn't really mix his words, and he doesn't waste them. I feel like the boys were crying out for a leader like that. I feel like they've embraced that. They haven't had it for a long period of time, probably since Radders (Lee Radford) was here. The kind of leader has been refreshing for the group, but credit to the boys, they've all really bought into it as well.

A big part of 2025's recruitment was adding experience and leadership to the group. Have you felt that from the new senior players at the club?

RM: We picked experienced players who have further miles on the clock. The group needed it. We've got a very talented young crop of players who are hungry and who love playing for Hull FC and who have a lot of talent, but their environment wasn't strong enough on how to be a rugby league player. Every single player we've brought in, personally, I feel gets that and understands what a rugby league environment should look like, how you should carry yourself, and, more importantly, how you should compete day on day and train in a certain way. That's what they've brought into this environment alongside John, Andy Last, Gareth Ellis, and Simon Grix; they've all grasped that, which is the really exciting thing for me. As a rugby club, we've got that element right.

The message from pre-season, not to digress, but the work they've done both here and away from here, the effort they've spent with each other, the community, our fan base, and sponsors, has been unbelievable. The way that they've bought into that and the understanding of what it represents to wear a Hull FC badge—that's the bit that's really exciting for me, what we want to stand for as a club. Yes, we want to be better on the field, but they're buying into the legacy and what it means to play for Hull FC. That's what they've grasped in this pre-season. The amount of hours they have done in the community, the Christmas drops when they were going to houses at 8, 9, and 10 o'clock at night was phenomenal really. We've not done that for a long time, but the players grabbed it with two hands.

We talk about identity as a club, and there's been talk of a rebuild before I was here. We want to rebuild; we're going through another rebuild, but what are we rebuilding? Well, community is what we're rebuilding; our connection with our fan base has to be better, and our fans want that. They just want a team that works hard, puts in effort, and hopefully wins a lot of games. The winning will inevitably come over time. It just does. But having a proud performance and a fan base who gets the story and the journey that we're on is the most important thing.

How important has the new facility been to creating that identity, that image, and that environment?

RM: It goes back to ownership and accountability. If you've got something to take accountability of, then you can instill all those factors in, but when you don't have that and you're having coffee in a car and you're shooting off as soon as training is finished and you're not spending quality time together, then you can't build anything, and you can't create that atmosphere within that environment. Fortunately, they can now.

Wigan are the pinnacle at the moment; they've won every trophy, and it's not coincidental that they're getting everything right. They're massive in their community; they're massive about caring about each other and their environment, and they've got a facility that makes it amazing for them to go to work in. Everyone I feel is chasing that. We're on the right path to it. We've started the first step, but we've got a long way to go. This environment isn't fully ours; we're on the university, but I feel like it's working a lot more than it was when I first walked in, to say the least.

Rugby League heads to Las Vegas again this year; Hull KR went to Amsterdam last weekend. Would you like to get Hull FC involved in those games in the future?

RM: I'd love to, but we clearly need to be performing a lot better. That's just being honest. If we were in the top four and playing in the play-offs, then a Hull derby in Vegas would be the dream. Hull KR are doing tremendously at the moment, and we need to replicate that kind of form and be a club that is competing so we can have those conversations where it's financially viable to go and do it and to make sure that we could make a good show of ourselves; we wouldn't want to put on a performance that's not worthy of playing on that stage. We are away from that at the moment. We've got a long way to go to that stage, but the exciting thing is that we're on that journey.

We've got a lot of hard work in front of us as a club and a performance department. I'd be delighted if we were in a situation where people thought that was the right move for this club. That means we've ticked every box, and we're a club performing at that level. Let's not shy away from the fact that we've got a lot of hard work in front of us, but anything that broadens this game, I love rugby league, and it's all I've ever known, so anything that helps wave the flag for the sport, I'm 100 percent for.

But our main focus at the moment is to be a better rugby league team. Our job right now is to get it right on the field so we can go and fly the flag for rugby league; our performances last year did not fly the flag for Hull FC or rugby league at all. Nobody wants to see a 50-0 defeat. We need to fix that problem first before anything else happens.

Did you expect the step up to CEO? How have you found that?

RM: I spoke to Brian Noble about it. I like Nobby—he's a good fella. He said when you're doing the rugby department, it's 2/3 of the costs of your business; the biggest flunacation of costs is in the rugby department. We've got £4 million of costs going through the rugby department, and I was fully in control of that anyway.

To manage the other side of the business, I'm very lucky and fortunate that we've got heads of departments and people in senior roles who are really good at their jobs and who understand how to run that department. Previously they've been managed above them, whereas I feel like my job is to empower them to do and own their patch.

We're seeing that; we've got a really experienced team. I'm spending a bit more time in the office, but it's similar; we're all one big team. That goes back to what we didn't have when I first walked in. It was very disjointed in the sense that it was that group of people and this group of people, and this group of people were also disjointed everywhere. It's just about it being a collective effort.

Does it feel like you've been thrown in the deep end?

I quite like that. I like being underestimated and being challenged. I like a challenge. Throughout my career, I was a good rugby player. I played over 400 games, but I was clever at getting everyone else to perform and do their jobs. I feel like this role is literally to make sure that we're all on the same page and we're all delivering on our areas. I feel we are at the minute, but it's different. I did see all those comments. I found them funny, and I enjoy them. We've underperformed as a club, so I'm coming in off the back of it not going so well anyway.

I got asked to pick a song for an upcoming dinner. I thought, 'The only way is up.' I'm really fortunate. We've got a very experienced coach. That's allowed me time to look after the side. I've got two very experienced people in Andrew (Thirkill) and David (Hood) who know how business should be run, which helps. We have board meetings monthly, and we go through every bit of detail. Adam is still putting his hand in as he's done it for 13 years. He knows how the club is run, and that is helping. It's been fun.

What is your answer to the critics within the game?

I love proving people wrong. I get satisfaction out of it. I'm very much a team person. I've done that my whole life, and I feel like you can only achieve something together. That's the way I'm approaching this. The whole new journey that the club is going on is very much a collective journey. The two owners that are putting large sums of money into this club are doing that and not taking a penny out.

That message is a really strong one for anybody who loves Hull FC. They both run businesses tremendously well. Everything they both have touched has turned to gold. They've been a success. They will have a huge impact on Hull FC, not just through financial aid but also through their vision, drive, and what they want for Hull FC as a rugby league club. We're only just starting out, but they want a club to be proud of and for it to be a collective effort from everybody.

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