The Hull FC half-back on his Super League debut, injury frustrations, and kicking on.
Hull FC full-back Jake Arthur.(Image: SW PIX)
Jake Arthur has labelled his Super League debut as ‘a mixed bag’ but believes he will get better the more combinations build at Hull FC.
The Australian half-back swapped NRL outfit Newcastle Knights for the Black and Whites ahead of the 2026 season, and after making his club debut in the Challenge Cup against Salford last month, he sat out the two league games that followed with a hamstring strain.
But Arthur, son of Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur, is now determined to make a fist of it at Hull and turn around their fortunes after an indifferent start to the year that has seen them lose their last two games.
“It was a bit of a mixed bag,” Arthur said on his league debut against York. “I had some good moments and then some things that I would have liked to have back. I competed really hard and I tried to dominate the kicking after Seze (Aidan Sezer) went off.
“I’ve just got to keep building combinations with the blokes around me now. I’ll learn a lot from that, but the more reps I can get in, the better I’ll be.
“It’s the same for the team. The more we touch the ball, the better we’ll look, but there were a lot of things we liked from the game. It just wasn’t all negative.
“It’s a building block and there’s plenty of growth to be had, things to keep doing well and things to improve on. We got into the right spots. We just didn’t execute on the end of it. That’s our challenge now.”
Now back on the field, the only way is up for Arthur, who has battled through two frustrating hamstring strains – a career first – in his time at Hull so far.
“It was definitely frustrating,” he said of those strains. “I’ve never really had any soft tissue injuries before so it was hard to handle.
“I didn’t get as many reps in as I’d have liked over the pre-season, but that’s rugby league; you just have to deal with it and move on.
“Coming to a new club, you want to make a good first impression, build combinations, and get to work straight away, so that definitely made it hard. And then watching the first two league games was tough. I’m just glad to be back playing now.”
Heading to Wakefield this Thursday night, Hull are looking to put a tough start – that has also seen them lose Will Pryce, ruled out for the season with an ACL injury and Liam Knight, released on compassionate grounds – behind them, with no panic setting in after three rounds.
“It’s the rollercoaster of rugby league,” he said. “You win a couple of games and you feel unbelievable and you lose a couple and you’re down in the dumps.
“But Carty talks a lot about the power of zero and being level headed so that’s something we’re really focusing on. All we can control is our next game and what’s in the past is in the past.
“Of course, it’s been tough to see, especially what happened to Prycey. I was gutted for him and also for us as a team. It’s a massive loss for us. I was really excited to play with him but Davy (Litten) stepped in and did a good job. We’ve just got to keep building on that and work with the side we have. There’s still plenty of talent there.”
Looking to right the wrongs in West Yorkshire, Hull are confident they can now get back on track.
“We’ll learn from last week but again, it’s not going to help worrying about the past,” Arthur added. “Carty helps with that. He’s very level headed and he’s always focused on what’s next.
“We’re not happy with how the last few weeks have gone and we’ll definitely look to show up this week. We’ve not made it easy for ourselves so far – we’ve had lots of errors in the backfield and our kicks haven’t been where they needed to be.
“I’m expecting us to show up with a real tough performance now. Everyone is gutted at how the last few weeks have gone and everyone is really eager to turn it around.
“I think everyone will turn up and compete hard, and it will be a really tough game. It’s an important game for us this week and we need to go after it.”