Taylor and Watts will link up as coach and player in 2026.
Ten years ago this August, Scott Taylor and Liam Watts were winning the Challenge Cup for Hull FC at Wembley.
This year, a decade on from one of the greatest ever days in the club’s history, they’re reunited again, with Watts linking up with Taylor at Goole Vikings ahead of the East Yorkshire outfit’s first Championship campaign.
A free agent up until last week, Watts, who left Hull last September after a second stint at the club, will play under Taylor, who is ready to get to grips with his second year as a professional head coach.
And for Taylor, there’s no doubting that Watts was the missing piece of his recruitment puzzle – even if he’s still coming to terms with rugby league’s uncanny ability to provide the unexpected.
“If you went back ten years ago and said in the future you’re going to be head coach and Liam Watts will be a player playing for you, I would have laughed you off, but rugby league does some strange stuff at times,” Taylor, speaking to Hull Live, said. “Obviously, we go way back – Wattsy and I – and we’ve had a lot of success together.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for each other. We’ve had some of the biggest moments of our careers playing alongside each other and I’ve been to battle many a time with him. I trust him and that’s the main reason I signed him, really, that trust and that honesty you get with him.
“He is someone who I know well and who will bring his best to finish his career with a bang. He’s got a real opportunity now to put a big footmark in at Goole and finish his career on a real high. He’s really keen to do that.”
Stepping down to part-time rugby league, Watts will play for Goole this season alongside his work commitments, having finished his qualifications to become a truck driver over the off-season.
It’s an environment that Taylor believes his former teammate, friend, and now player can thrive in, with the 35-year-old arguably the biggest signing the club, who stepped up to the professional ranks in October 2024, have made so far.
“We’re going to get someone here for the right reasons,” Taylor continued. “I’m really excited to have him on board. It’s a really big signing for us.
“It’s also the first time someone has come straight from Super League to Goole. We’ve had players who have had Super League and international experience, players like Jamie Shaul, Brett Ferres, and Thomas Minns, but for someone to be playing in Super League one season and then the next season for us, that’s the first time it’s happened.
“It’s a massive coup for the club. I’ve been after an experienced middle for a while now and I held the last little bit of the budget back for that. I then spoke to Wattsy a few weeks ago and I kept in touch with him. We had a really good catch up on Sunday and we then got it all over the line. He’s keen and getting ready to start. He’ll join in the training this week and get straight into it.
“He’s got a lot of experience and I feel, at his age now, that a part-time environment will really suit him. He’s looking in really good shape and he’ll have a massive impact for us, not just on the field, but off it too, he can help all of the young boys and be that real solid person coming from that elite level.”
As for recruitment elsewhere, Taylor has got what he wanted, bringing in the likes of Jack Miller, an experienced half-back, and more young players in Nick Staveley and co.
Ready to go, Goole host Rochdale Hornets in a friendly this Sunday afternoon and then will attack the new Championship season with their opener at Keighley Cougars the following week.
“I don’t think we could have got it any better,” Taylor added on recruitment. “Out of every player we tried to go out and get, we only missed out on one or two.
“We’re really happy with the squad we’ve got. The new season has come around quick. We’ve got a friendly this week against Rochdale and all 26 players will get some sort of minutes and a chance to impress, and then next week, we’re straight into Keighley and the league opener, which is a big game for us.
“We feel more established as a club now – and we’ve not got that new club excuse anymore. We’ve got our own ground, our own pitch and training has been good – we can’t wait to get going.”