IT’S always tough this time of year to predict how good teams will be two months down the line, but it’s always interesting to see peoples’ predictions.
One Super League club that isn’t at the forefront of peoples’ minds going into the new year is Hull FC.
After two difficult seasons under previous head coach Brett Hodgson, the Black and Whites parted ways and brought in former Hull KR, Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos boss Tony Smith.
If the mood of Hull fans was downbeat at the end of the season, it has slowly risen in anticipation following that news.
Here was a head coach that had won two Grand Finals with Leeds, three Challenge Cups with Warrington and steered Hull KR to a Challenge Cup semi-final as well as a Super League play-off semi-final.
Now, he will be expected to win things at the MKM Stadium, but pressure is something that Smith is used to – that’s why Hull will be the surprise Super League package of 2023.
At whichever club he has been at, Smith has left them in a better place in which he found them.
At Leeds, Smith won the club’s first-ever Grand Final in 2004 before signing off from Headingley with another Old Trafford title in 2007.
With Warrington, the Australian guided the Wolves to their first Challenge Cup win in 35 years in 2009 – and then did it twice more in 2010 and 2012.
And, then with Hull KR, Smith took the Robins from basement dwellers to the Super League play-offs and a stable top flight club.
With Hull and the backing from chairman Adam Pearson and the board, the results could be very fruitful indeed.
Add into the mix the plethora of superb new signings with Tex Hoy, Jake Clifford, Jake Trueman, Brad Dwyer and Liam Sutcliffe and the Black and Whites have done their business early, allowing the new recruits to bed in seamlessly ahead of the February start.
Bringing in Clifford was a major coup for the Airlie Birds. Just 24 years of age, the former Newcastle Knights halfback was once tipped for glory. Now, he can find that under Smith.
It also helps FC the fact that not much is expected of them in 2023 – they can fly under the radar just as Smith and Hull KR did in recent seasons.
With that in mind, the Black and Whites will be the surprise package of Super League 2023.
