Hull FC are prioritising recovery after an injury-hit year.
John Cartwright has stated that Hull FC’s pre-season will look slightly different this year – with end-of-season surgeries and injury recoveries following a tough end to the year taking priority.
The Black and Whites lost Herman Ese’ese (Achilles), Jed Cartwright (pec), Liam Knight (foot), Ed Chamberlain (hamstring), John Asiata (hamstring), and Will Pryce (foot) to season-ending blows this year, with some of those players recently going under the knife.
Asiata for one, has had surgery in recent times, with more players potentially joining him after playing busted through the year. The likes of Aidan Sezer and Cade Cust finished the year playing with knocks.
However, the club are expecting only Ese’ese, who has a February to May return window, to be out for the first round of action come the start of the 2026 season. However, the reality is it will be a delayed pre-season for some of Hull’s injured stars as they recover from recent procedures and then look to hit the ground running.
“We’ve got a lot of surgeries to get through,” Cartwright said. “We had a really good pre-season this year. The majority of the boys were back in November, but that’s just not going to be the case this time due to the surgeries we’ve had to have.”
Meanwhile, Hull concluded their 2025 season with a defeat to Catalans Dragons last Thursday night – with the side missing out on the Super League play-offs. Outlining the next steps, with the squad set for time off before returning for pre-season in November, Cartwright confirmed there’ll be no end-of-year training as seen at some clubs in recent times.
He added: “We’ll take a breath, debrief, and then have a break. We’ll enjoy each other’s company for a few days, and then we’ll send them on their way.”