IF there is a team that falters towards the back end of a Super League season more than Hull FC then let it be known.
For a number of years the Black and Whites have been in a prominent position midway through the year, only to fall off spectacularly – with the exception of course being 2020 when Lee Radford’s assistant coach Andy Last managed to qualify for the play-offs.
In 2021 and 2022, Brett Hodgson failed to make the play-offs which ultimately cost him his job at the end of last season, with former Hull KR and Leeds Rhinos boss Tony Smith signing on the dotted line.
That in itself is a major coup with Smith almost definitely the right man to instil a culture that seems to be lacking at the MKM Stadium.
Smith’s impact has been felt instantly, with Jake Connor leaving for the Huddersfield Giants with talks of a new playmaker coming over from Australia.
However, Hull’s best piece of business was done before Smith took the reins at FC with Leeds providing that number one recruit.
That recruit is Brad Dwyer who has been at the top of his hooking game for a number of years now, helping the Rhinos to a play-off charge in 2022 with his dynamic running and wily edge often changing games single-handedly.
There were calls during the season for new Leeds boss Rohan Smith to extend Dwyer’s deal which ran out in 2022, but the hooker was allowed to leave.
It is very much Leeds’ loss and Hull’s gain with the hooker set to play a key role in Hull’s potentially radical switch in attacking structures.
Dwyer offers a very quick ruck and sniping from dummy-half which the Black and Whites have missed since Danny Houghton’s heyday, which, on the back of huge runs from the likes of Ligi Sao and Chris Satae, could cause havoc in Super League in 2023.
