Jed Cartwright has hailed Hull FC teammate Zak Hardaker as one of the best players he’s ever played with. And coming from someone who came through the Penrith Panthers system alongside some of the game’s best players in Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo, to name two, that’s not a bad claim.
For good measure, Cartwright also played alongside England veteran Tom Burgess in his South Sydney days, as well as Kalyn Ponga at Newcastle Knights. But it’s Hardaker, ironically a new signing that brought plenty of critics, who has caught the Hull forward’s eye.
“He’s so inspiring,” Cartwright said. “He’s so good to play with. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever had the opportunity to play with.
“The energy he brings, his spirit – he’s one where if you’re on the field in a dark place and really fatigued, you look at him, and you can see the energy that he brings, and you don’t want to let him down. He’s massive for our team.
“I’ve watched Zak throughout a lot of stages of my career. You can see the amount of passion and pride that he plays with, so it hasn’t surprised me. When I found out that he signed here, I was really excited to play alongside someone with that type of energy.”
Hardaker may be 33, but head coach John Cartwright has already stated he believes the versatile star can play on for years to come. And Jed shares his father’s sentiment.
“The way he’s playing at the moment, he’s got several years in him,” Cartwright continued. “He’s a really good character to have around the team. What everyone sees on the field, he’s the exact same fit. He brings a lot of energy and a lot of joy – he’s a pleasure to have around.
“He’s played full-back, wing, centre, and back row, and I think, at one stage, he was in the halves. I guess when he got put in the second row, everyone was a bit surprised, but he did an awesome job there. A player like Zak, who plays with the passion he does, you could play him anywhere, and he’s going to do the same job. He’s been awesome.”
Showing his maturity last week, Hardaker stood up alongside captain Aidan Sezer during half-time of the Wakefield win, delivering a pep talk before Hull turned around a 10-0 deficit into a 16-10 victory.
“You need leaders like that,” Cratwright added. “Sometimes you need a player with their experience to stand up and say, ‘Right, boys, this isn’t good enough. We need to have a response and go out there.’
“The coaches can only give us so much, and the coaches have been unreal, but on the field, and especially on game day, you need players like that to encourage us to just drop everything and go out and work hard for each other.
“We really did that, and we had a response in the second half against Wakefield. That’s a big reason why we ended up getting the victory in the end.”