{"id":452176,"date":"2026-03-01T15:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/452176\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T15:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:36:10","slug":"hull-fc-quota-and-recruitment-options-assessed-after-liam-knights-immediate-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/452176\/","title":{"rendered":"Hull FC quota and recruitment options assessed after Liam Knight’s immediate exit"},"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

Hull FC are now firmly in the market after the club confirmed the release of overseas forward Liam Knight and with a quota spot available, there are plenty of routes that the club can go down.<\/p>\n

It was announced by Hull FC on Saturday evening that the 31-year-old prop would leave the club as part of a mutual release<\/a> on compassionate grounds, with Knight set to return to Australia where he will likely be picked up by an NRL club.<\/p>\n

The prop had played in each Super League match this season and now leaves a big whole in their pack, however, it\u2019s not certain that the Black and Whites will make a like-for-like replacement.<\/p>\n

Full-back Will Pryce is out for the full season and Hull FC will receive 25\/27ths of his salary in compensation<\/a> meaning they have cap space to recruit. Similarly, they have now opened up more space on the cap with Knight\u2019s release meaning the club have money and a quota spot available to bolster their squad.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve picked out four positions that might be targeted by John Cartwright and Richie Myler.<\/p>\n

Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Where could Hull FC recruit after Liam Knight exit<\/p>\n

Full-back<\/p>\n

Whilst an obvious option given Will Pryce\u2019s ACL injury<\/a>, the Black and Whites might feel that they have cover here and they also likely feel they have long-term answers.<\/p>\n

Pryce will return in time for the start of the 2027 season so signing a full-back on any long-term deal makes no sense and in the meantime, options such as Davy Litten, Zak Hardaker, Logan Moy and Lloyd Kemp exist.<\/p>\n

The loss of Pryce was seismic and in an ideal world, Hull FC would simply replace him but more obvious and pressing matters exist elsewhere in the squad.<\/p>\n

Centre<\/p>\n

One position where the club could look for a longer-term move is at centre with Hull FC understood to be looking for a strike player in the position. They signed Arthur Romano in the off-season but the Frenchman is more of a physical centre, as seen by the fact he has spent time in the second-row.<\/p>\n

If Litten or Hardaker are utilised as the full-back replacement then getting a jump on the 2027 recruitment by signing your long-term centre now could be a smart move.<\/p>\n

Prop<\/p>\n

With Liam Knight leaving the club, it would make plenty of sense to find an immediate replacement for him, just as they did in 2025 when they brought in Knight to replace Ligi Sao.<\/p>\n

Sam Lisone is still getting up to speed in 2026 and Herman Ese\u2019ese is still sidelined so adding a prop into the mix now would massively aid John Cartwright\u2019s pack.<\/p>\n

Second-row<\/p>\n

Another position in the pack that is arguably more important is second-row given the club\u2019s injury issues there, notably the fact that Joe Batchelor is out for a further five weeks and Jed Cartwright has suffered another hamstring injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James Bell, who is more of a loose forward but can play in the back-row, also hasn\u2019t featured yet this season meaning that currently the only fit out-and-out second-row option is Connor Bailey with a number of youngster behind him.<\/p>\n

Of course, Ligi Sao, Yusuf Aydin, Brad Fash, Matty Laidlaw and more can play in the second-row but the lack of a surefire fit starter would suggest that this position could and perhaps should be addressed.<\/p>\n

A combination<\/p>\n

Given the fact the Black and Whites have both Pryce and Knight\u2019s salary to utilise, as well as a quota spot, it\u2019s viable that they make two signings with one almost certainly coming in the pack.<\/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":"Hull FC are now firmly in the market after the club confirmed the release of overseas forward Liam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-452176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452176","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=452176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}