{"id":200329,"date":"2025-10-14T21:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/200329\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T21:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:39:12","slug":"the-inside-story-of-how-one-conversation-with-a-super-league-legend-made-jez-litten-go-from-an-unwanted-hull-fc-reserve-to-a-hull-kr-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/200329\/","title":{"rendered":"The inside story of how one conversation with a Super League legend made Jez Litten go from an unwanted Hull FC reserve to a Hull KR hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Last Saturday saw Hull KR lift their first Grand Final trophy, as they capped off an incredible season by sweeping up all three pieces of silverware available to them.<\/p>\n

Mikey Lewis<\/a> opened the scoring at Old Trafford, before a Joe Burgess double saw the Robins clinch the title<\/a> from Wigan Warriors, who for the first time since 2021 went trophyless for the entire season.<\/p>\n

The final man on the scoresheet that day was hooker Jez Litten, who\u2019s brilliant journey to become one of Super League\u2019s best nines is one of inspiration and admiration.<\/p>\n

Litten has cemented himself as one of Hull KR\u2019s best, and this year both a Dream Team call-up and an England selection for the Ashes series<\/a> prove that.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old probably never thought that this could be a possibility, however, with mentorship from one of the game\u2019s legends, Litten has gone from an unwanted Hull FC backup to an integral Hull KR hero.<\/p>\n

Making his Hull FC debut as a 19-year-old in 2017, Litten was behind Danny Houghton and Danny Washbrook in the pecking order. His game time was limited, and despite spending time on loan at Doncaster in the Championship, never got a real chance to show his skills at the MKM Stadium.<\/p>\n

However, a meeting with Leeds Rhinos and Super League legend Danny McGuire changed everything, and that conversation shaped the player and club Litten and Hull KR are to this day.<\/p>\n

How a Super League legend convinced Jez Litten to sign for Hull KR<\/p>\n

Part-way through 2019, a recently retired McGuire was part of the coaching team at Craven Park, and alongside Tony Smith were part of a relegation battle. Meanwhile, FC had won the Challenge Cup in 2016 and 2017, and were fighting for playoffs at the time.<\/p>\n

In what was a hard sell, McGuire has revealed how he managed to persuade a young hooker full of potential to not only make a cross-city move that would have sparked heat, but to make a move to a club on the brink of going down.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Leeds Rhinos podcast,<\/a> McGuire, who has returned to his boyhood club to work for the Foundation, described how he managed to convince Litten to sign on the dotted line.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cJez was at Hull FC who were in Challenge Cup finals and near the top of the league. When I was at Hull KR, after I finished playing, I was trying to get some better players in the club, trying to help create this environment that I know brings success.<\/p>\n

\u201cJez is now playing for England and winning Grand Finals and Challenge Cups. I remember turning up at the Village Hotel and trying to persuade him to come to Hull KR, who had only just avoided relegation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was young, he was young and he wanted to impress and wanted to achieve something. It was a tough sell to get him to move from Hull FC, but I managed to pin him down and make him sign the papers and, obviously, he\u2019s had huge success since.<\/p>\n

With the move confirmed in July 2019, both Litten and fellow Hull KR fan favourite Dean Hadley made the west-to-east switch, in what has proved to be a masterstroke for the red side of Hull.<\/p>\n

A treble-winning season and 156 appearances later, Litten has turned into a key player for the Rovers. With an ability to play the full 80 minutes, his work rate is second to none, and provides a constant threat in attack and defence.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old was asked post-match just what it meant to him to win the Grand Final, and he couldn\u2019t quite believe what his team had just achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe journey we\u2019ve been on as a team is unbelievable,\u201d he said. \u201cTo win a treble, it hasn\u2019t sank in yet but I\u2019m just so happy to be part of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hooker praised the dedication of the fans since he arrived and how they and owner Neil Hudgell deserves this moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been on that journey with us. From fighting relegation to come on this journey and now win a treble, they deserve it more than ever and our owner Neil deserves it more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, McGuire, who was part of the broadcast team on Saturday, congratulated Litten on his victory, in which the hooker paid gratitude to the former half-back for making him sign.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cYou know how much you mean to me and how much you brought me on at KR and I\u2019m forever grateful for that and thanks for making me sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Saturday saw Hull KR lift their first Grand Final trophy, as they capped off an incredible season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-200329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}