Hull FC have options to go at next year.
11:50, 02 Dec 2025Updated 12:12, 02 Dec 2025
Hull FC twins Lloyd Kemp and Callum Kemp.
Aidan Sezer is confident that Hull FC’s squad development will put them in a better place going into the new season. The Black and Whites have made eight additions for 2026, with their batch of young talent also one year on in their development.
And that development gives Sezer reassurance, with the 34-year-old ‘touch and go’ to start the season. In rehab after planned off-season shoulder surgery, the Black and Whites skipper hasn’t ruled himself out of featuring in round one and will do everything he can to make it.
However, there’s a balancing act to consider. The whole point of Sezer’s surgeries was to clean up the niggles and pain he played with at the end of last season and by his own admission, he has a 20-week process to get through. He’s around two months into that process and is ‘feeling good.’
But Hull won’t rush him back, and if he’s not ready to feature in February’s start, instead returning after a couple of rounds, then there are options. Cade Cust is Hull’s 14 once again and could slot in alongside new signing Jake Arthur, while Callum Kemp also got experience at the back end of last season, as did twin brother Lloyd. Zak Hardaker, too, has played in the halves before.
Regardless, there are personnel to slot in, and competition, Sezer believes, puts the club in good stead.
“It’s always healthy to be in that position where you have options,” Sezer told Hull Live. “As a club, I think we’re in a better position than when I first came in and that transition period you saw – we brought in a lot of experience, and the younger players are going to be better for it.
“They will be expected to perform. Both of the Kemp boys played at the back end of the year, and they are only going to get better for the time and run they had in the first team.
“Elsewhere, I think blokes like Matty Laidlaw were awesome last year, and then I look at blokes like Harvey (Barron), Lewis (Martin), Davy (Litten), and Prycey (Will Pryce). There’s a good nucleus of good young players there to take the club forward.
“There’s also a good feel around the squad, and as a group, we feel that there was a lot of growth last season. There were so many young boys that played, and they performed really well.
“They’re another season on now in their progression. We just need to make sure that we lay the foundation at this time of the year and get the chemistry right with the new recruits. We’re confident in the environment we’ve got that they’ll bring their best from the get-go.”