GARETH ELLIS has revealed how the environment at Hull FC became “toxic” following the breakdown in the relationship between Jake Connor and former head coach Brett Hodgson.
Ellis himself spent over ten years at the East Yorkshire club and was Hodgson’s assistant in 2021 and 2022.
But, it’s fair to say that Hodgson’s rein as Hull FC boss was far from smooth, with the club failing to finish inside the play-offs in both seasons under the Australian.
Now Ellis has explained, in his autobiography Never the Easy Option, that Hodgson’s decision to try and make things revolve around Connor was the catalyst surrounding the Black and Whites’ failures.
“Jake Connor was very talented but completely different to Josh Reynolds, who at least was trying hard but not quite producing the goods,” Ellis writes.
“Jake was, intermittently, coming up with them, but wasn’t such a hard worker and that led to consistency issues.
“Brett, particularly at the start of his time, threw all his eggs into the Jake Connor basket. Knowing his ability, he felt that he could get him onside and mould the team around him, which would have been the perfect scenario.
“But he never did. Once the experiment began to fail, Brett jumped into picking Jake out in video sessions, which meant he got a bit shirty in return.
“Before he knew it, Brett had lost everybody. It got pretty toxic towards the end.
“That’s not a slight on him, more that he was an inexperienced head coach trying to find his way and it was a bigger job than he’d anticipated.
“It’s not all about rugby in that role.
“It’s managing people, emotions and different characters.
“The best coaches can do that, whether everyone likes each other or not.
“Somehow, they can bring a group together and there’s a real skill to it.”
Ellis points to the 36-4 thrashing by local rivals Hull KR in late September 2022 and how that epitomised just how far FC had fallen.
“Players weren’t on board, just waiting for the season to end, and that was being reflected in the results,” Ellis continued.
“The worst was the penultimate game of the 2022 season, at home in the derby, when Rovers with fifteen men took us apart.
“It summed up the depths we’d sunk to by then and where everyone’s head was. Unacceptably, the team just gave up in the most important fixture for the fans.
“There was no way back for Brett after that and a good few players were waiting to see what happened to him before deciding on their own futures, especially the experienced guys like Scott Taylor and Danny Houghton.
“It was intensely disappointing for everyone.”
PURCHASE GARETH ELLIS’ AUTOBIOGRAPHY NEVER THE EASY OPTION HERE
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