The worst could be yet to come for Hull FC in the eyes of Sam Tomkins with the former Man of Steel winner tipping the Black and Whites to continue to slide down the Super League table.
After watching Hull’s 42-6 loss to Leigh Leopards, Tomkins and Jon Wilkin cast their eye on the situation at the club with both concluding that the problems go far beyond interim coach Andy Last.
On Sky Sports, Hull-born Wilkin said: “I think the club has got so much development to do and I think one thing that is absolutely crystal clear is that the problem at Hull FC is bigger than a 12-month recruitment cycle.
“It’s bigger than a training ground, it’s bigger than a lot of the issues, their coach, they’ve got bigger issues and it’s multi-layered issues.”
Those listed issues of recruitment, a training ground, and a coach were things that club CEO Richie Myler had spoken about pre-match as he revealed that the club was like ‘Pandora’s Box’ in respect to the fact more issues are being discovered continually.
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For Tomkins, one thing was clear and that was the fact that Andy Last was not the problem, with the pundit offering sympathy for his former England colleague.
He said: “I think you’ve got to have some sympathy for Andy Last as well. He got thrown into this job in a horrible situation.
“He’s got a squad full of injuries, fans who are unhappy the coach is gone, a playing group that made it really clear that they weren’t happy, then Andy Last gets put front and centre and told to do something with this team.”
Things aren’t expected to get better for Last or Hull FC though as their upcoming five fixtures see them take on four clubs in the top six, a run that Jon Wilkin described as ‘alarming’.
Both men confidently wrote the club out play-off contention, with Tomkins assessing: “I think they’re too far away now and I think they’re only going to go lower.
“There’s going to be some young lads play this year, who won’t have expected to play, get a bit more game time which should stand them in good stead for next year and the year after. I think that’s all that Andy Last can get from this because I don’t think he can turn that group into a top six side.”
Wilkin agreed, pointing to the fact that Hull FC is an ‘entire broken system’ that will need both more money and more time than expected to fix it up.
He said: “Like I said, I think it’s a multi-layered problem for Hull FC. John Cartwright leaving wasn’t the answer, he wasn’t the problem. I think the training facilities aren’t the problem, it’s an entire broken system problem.
“It was financially nearly in ruin, as Richie Myler articulated before the game, and whenever you got into a project like this, it always costs more money and takes more time than you thought and I imagine that’s exactly where Richie Myler and Andrew Thirkill’s head is at right now.”
