Hull FC’s 2026 season is over, with several weeks to go until the start of pre-season.
Hull FC will now dust themselves down before a big pre-season.
Hull FC’s 2026 season is over, with the side ending a disappointing campaign on a high note with victory at Leeds Rhinos on Friday night.
Breaking off over the next week or so, the squad will now get some time off, amid off-season programmes, before pre-season begins in November, with Steve McNamara set to take charge as the club’s new head coach in less than two months time alongside a sequence of new staff from Scott Taylor, Jimmy McDaniel, Nathan Mill, Dave Ferguson and more.
Those pre-season plans are already put into place, with the club testing their players last week ahead of what promises to be a strenuous three-month programme to get ready for 2027 and the demands that will come with it.
Asked what happens now, interim head coach Andy Last, who will be one of McNamara’s assistants next season, said: “I’ll be having some chats with Steve on his days off. Obviously, he’s still got a job to do with Warrington.
“The lads had some testing on Monday and Wednesday, which has given us the basis for the pre-season. The pre-season is all planned. We’ve got to go through that.
“The lads will have a little bit of time off. We’ll be in contact with them and they’ll have an off-season programme to get ready for pre-season. We start again early in November.
“It’s a fresh start for the club. Steve has got some ideas which he will want to implement. I’m really excited to work with Steve again.
“There’s been a lot of news about the additions that we’ve made and how we’re freshening up the squad with the players coming in, and that’s exciting, but I think it’s important to recognise the guys who have been with us this year and the efforts that they have put in and the staff who have worked with us not only this year but numerous years.
“They deserve a lot of credit and I just want to thank them. It’s been a tough old year and they have supported me magnificently.”
Hull’s buzzword for the 2027 season is no doubt set to be consistency. It’s constant performances that the side will strive for week to week after a hit-and-miss year that saw them finish 11th in Super League with just eight wins from the 27 league games.
“I’m absolutely not sad it’s over,” Last said. “It’s been very challenging, emotionally and mentally.
“But I go back to 2020. The first game back after Covid, we got beat by 50 here (to Salford at Headingley) and then the following we went and beat Huddersfield by 30.
“We’ve had changes in personnel, changes in coaches, changes in playing staff, and even changes in ownership. It’s a head scratcher, but I’m hoping we can find a level of consistency which is befitting of the club that we want to be.
“The good teams constantly are at the top of the table, week in week out, and have strong performances – and that’s what we’ll be striving for.”