The Hull FC head coach on youth, new signings, a fix up, injuries, and Brad Fash.
16:50, 25 Jan 2026Updated 19:52, 25 Jan 2026
Hull FC prop Sam Lisone in action. (Image: )
John Cartwright has praised the character of his young Hull FC squad after Sunday’s pre-season game against Huddersfield Giants, but has also aired a key fix up ahead of the new season.
The Black and Whites boss fielded a predominately young side for the clash, with a team of academy and reserve players finishing the game after Hull started with four new signings and a flutter of first-team talent.
Going down 28-16 to the Giants, who fielded a sizeable pack themselves, Cartwright was encouraged by what he saw, with the Kemp twins singled out once again. Callum played the full game at half-back with Lloyd starting at full-back before joining his brother in the halves.
Elsewhere, Sam Lisone, Harvie Hill, Connor Bailey, and Arthur Romano all featured, with the game finishing five tries to four in the Giants favour.
However, it was some costly errors in the first half that Cartwright wants to see his side now improve, with Huddersfield’s two first half tries coming off direct mistakes from the FC side – one a backfield carry blunder and the other not making touch from a penalty.
“Overall, I was really happy,” Cartwright told Hull Live post-match. “I thought we competed really hard and we got some game time into some new guys who have come to the club.
“I thought the young halves, Callum and Lloyd Kemp, did a really good job. We did a lot of chopping and changing around and I’m really happy for the academy boys and the reserves boys who finished the game. We had eight to ten of them out there towards the end and I thought they did a really good job.
“I was just happy with the effort. Most of their tries came off some errors that we made and we need to tidy that up. We need to defend those errors better if we want to compete with the big boys, but effort-wise, we’re really happy.”
On his new recruits, Cartwright continued: “Arthur was good. He was probably one of our best. All we asked him to do was to go out there and compete and I thought he competed really hard.
“Connor did well. We’ve had to play him out of position a bit. We’re down on halves and he played a bit of six as a younger fella, and I liked the way he handled it. I said to him we’d get him a bit of back row and I thought he did a good job.
“Training wise he’s fitted in well. He’s hardly missed a minute of training and he tells me he’s in the best shape he’s ever been in. The way that he compete physically, I just really liked what I saw.
“It was also a good opportunity for Sam and Harvie. You just cross your fingers that you get through unscathed and those boys did. That’s all you can really hope for coming out of the trials; to come through injury free and get as ready as you possibly can for round one.”
Barring two knocks, Hull seem to have done that. They lost Matty Laidlaw to a head injury early on in the contest, with winger Joe Ward also copping a knock to his knee.
“Matty failed his HIA,” Cartwright confirmed. “We’ll do all the checks on him. Young Wardy has rolled over on his knee. We’re not sure on the extent of it – we’ll have to get some scans on it.”
Cartwright also paid tribute to testimonial man Brad Fash. The head coach added: “He’s wholehearted – you just know what you’re going to get. The only worry you get as a coach is knowing what team is going to turn up, but with guys like Brad, he plays the same every week.
“He played the same today as he will next week and he will do the following week. It takes a lot of worry out of the coaches head. He’s a popular lad. They all really wanted to play in this game for him. He led them out and he played that way. I thought he was very strong with his carries and he worked hard in defence, but you know you’ll get that before he goes out.”