Hull FC enter a new Super League season with hope, confidence, belief, and a key warning.
Hull FC’s Harvey Barron, Will Pryce & Lewis Martin.
Hull FC wake up this Saturday morning ahead of their Super League opener with more than just hope for the season that lies ahead. In fact, there’s a genuine belief that they can push on this year and reach the next level.
It’s a hope, or if you will, a confidence, that we’ve all heard over and over again, but at the risk of the old adage coming back to bite us, this time feels a little different. There’s nothing quite like Hull FC anticipation after all, but the right minerals seem to be embedded into the 2026 squad to make a genuine fist of it.
Recognising grit, determination, connection, and hard work, Hull have led their resurgence over the last year on the credentials craved by the fan base and the qualities to get them onside. That was shown throughout the whole of last season, win, lose, or draw, with all associated to the Black and Whites along the ride and there every step of the way.
Those traits saw Hull come a long way in 2025 and they show no signs of letting down this term. However to go through the necessary gears, it’s now about not only following suit, an absolute necessity if this club wants to kick on, but also adding more quality, more polish, and more detail to their game. It’s about adding that extra bit of consistency and that genuine ruthless streak to take things up a notch.
Do that, and Hull can become a play-off team in 2026, a feat that has eluded them for six years. That’s a monstrous stat for a club the size of Hull, but then again, the size of the club never guarantees or makes you entitled to success. Only sticking to the aforementioned qualities will transcend such aspiration to reality, with Hull hoping they can mix all the cocktail ingredients together and get their desired fizz.
With over 9,000 members signed up and at least 16,000 ready to descend on the MKM Stadium this evening, the hope, the anticipation, has reached above and beyond. There’s a confidence brewing, and it’s a confidence that is well placed.
For one, Hull have recruited well again, adding the necessary experience and leadership to a core of outstanding young players, a combination that seems to only enhance their spirit and their connection. In and amongst that balance, there is now further strength in depth and competition for places, two facets that can only drive performance on as responsibility and accountability mount up. It’s a chain effect leading Hull through the gears and one that can only have a positive effect this year.
Of course, it’s also important not to get carried away with hope and anticipation, to rein things in, and to be balanced, even cautious. Hull, still in the midst of a rebuild but now without the surprise factor they had last year, won’t have everything their own way and there’ll be plenty of other teams with the same ambition. It’s also no easy feat to knock those above them off their perch but that’s the challenge facing this team if they want to take that next step.
As always, there will be highs, lows, and everything in between. It’s never been any different and probably never will be but with the leadership within this group, the spirit, and the genuine willingness to work hard, they will be in good stead. They are also qualities, by many accounts, that have rarely been better, certainly in recent times, and now it’s about putting words into actions and maximising such connection when it matters most: out on the field, with strong performances turning into results and two points on the competition ladder.
On that front, Bradford Bulls present the first challenge for this Hull team to do just that and it may be cliché to say nothing less than a committed display will do but it’s true. There are no easy games in the Super League and Hull need to be on it every week to get the results they desire.
But as they rise again, there’s a genuine sense that professionalism and togetherness throughout the whole organisation have risen tenfold. This is a club now collectively driven on one goal, with players, as recently put on record by head coach John Cartwright, fitter, stronger, sharper and more skilful than they were this time last year. It all bodes well for the season ahead, with everyone from staff to coaches to players to directors and ownership set on raising the bar.
Pride has been restored and passion ignited but now it’s about going again. As always, Hull will need that bit of lady luck on the way, good health, with availability being their biggest strength. Get that and the top six is within their reach, and internally, probably something more.
That’s the level of confidence instilled right now, and while a lot of objectives sit internally within the four walls, there’s no secret that this club is craving a Super League play-off place – and there’s no doubt, at the start of another rollercoaster that will no doubt test the emotions and get the heart rate going, that they’ll do everything they possibly can to get there. Bring it on.