The Kiwi is set to lead the Hull line for the foreseeable future.
Hull FC forward James Bell.
Hull FC loose forward James Bell is ‘excited’ about the opportunity he’s got for the next few months of the season.
After a spell in the back row, the Kiwi has played Hull’s last two games at loose-forward in the absence of John Asiata and is set to keep the position for the next couple of months at least. Asiata, who had recent surgery on his hamstring, isn’t expected back until August time, giving Bell a real opportunity to stamp his mark on the position and the team.
It’s an opportunity interim head coach Andy Last is backing Bell to take, with the 31-year-old ever present since coming into the team in the round four clash at Wakefield Trinity.
Outlining the players strengths, Last said: “He’s a very, very good player, James. I worked with him back in the World Cup in 2017 at Scotland and he was at the New Zealand Warriors at the time. I thought then he can play this lad.
“He’s very, very different to John. He’s got the ability to play the tactical and technical side of playing 13, but he’s also got some real intent. He gives you some aggression and some line speed. He’s that no nonsense 13, which I really, really like.
“John’s been doing a little bit of work with some subtle stuff where we can probably make Belly a little bit better and aware of. They are different as 13s, but they place similar sort of roles.
“Belly is an important member of our team and an important member of our group. He’s excited about the opportunity that he’s got, playing in the position which he favours.”
First meeting Bell nearly nine years ago, the Kiwi has Scottish heritage through his family and linked up with Last for the 2017 World Cup.
Recalling their first meeting Last said: “I ended up doing the World Cup with two weeks notice. Steve McCormack was the Scotland head coach. I’d worked with England Academy when I was a player and he was a coach.
“He just rung me out of the bullet and just said there’s an opportunity to come to the World Cup in 2017. Would you come as an assistant with Scotland? John Duffy got the head coach’s job at Featherstone and he didn’t feel able to go to the World Cup, so it was like four weeks in Australia and I went, ‘Yeah. Where do I sign up?’
“I went straight out there. I even had John’s kit on. It said JD on my actual Scotland coaching kit, but we had a great time. James Bell was obviously part of that Scotland group and I really, really hit it off of him.
“He’s a good player. He was working at a town with Stephen Kearney, someone who I knew from my time in 2005 with him at Hull. We had some common ground there and I really enjoyed, working with Belly and seeing him do so well, obviously at the Warriors, and then he had a spell at Toulouse and then Leigh and then did a great job at St Helens. He’s a good player for us now at Hull and he’s also a good man.”