
BRADFORD BULLS star Jayden Okunbor has broken his silence on his dismal spell at Hull FC, which lasted just mere months.
Arriving ahead of the 2024 Super League season amidst a fanfare from the Canterbury Bulldogs, Okunbor would play just eight times for the Black and Whites before leaving for the Bulls in the Championship.
Okunbor was a guest on Ronan Michael’s ‘What’s the message?‘ podcast, with the 27-year-old revealing how his excitement at making the move to England soon tailed off into loneliness. He said: “I came over with a lot of excitement. Being at the Bulldogs for so long, I felt like I needed something new.
“Moving to the other side of the world was something new and I was super excited. Going to Hull, I had no idea about anything in England as I didn’t watch much Super League.
“I came over here by myself and a few of the other boys that came over from Australia had their partners, so I just struggled from the start.
“I lived in the city by myself. Shout out to Tex Hoy because he did look after me, he lived down the road from me and he was the main person that helped me when I first moved.
“He obviously had a partner and I didn’t just want to invade their space, so I was just at home by myself. Going to training in that weather, I wasn’t used to it. I just felt super alone.”
Okunbor admits that he was surprised by the training at Hull.
He continued: “The training we were doing wasn’t what I was expecting, I thought it was going to be a bit harder and a bit more full on, so I just lost a bit of fitness.
“Going into games, I don’t feel like I was fully prepared and I played some of the worst footy I’ve ever played in my life.
“That was on me, but I realised that you play your best footy when you’re happy, and I definitely wasn’t happy and that really affected my performances.”
Okunbor will go up against Castleford Tigers for the Bulls in this weekend’s Challenge Cup Third Round tie.