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<\/p>\nAs Super League celebrates it’s 30th birthday, there’s one thing that needs to be put above all else, and Hull FC’s John Cartwright has explained why.<\/p>\n
10:00, 27 Mar 2026Updated 10:02, 27 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
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Super League is aiming to kick on after it’s 30th birthday, and for Hull FC’s John Cartwright, one area is key.<\/p>\n
Super League celebrates its 30th birthday this weekend. First played on March 29, 1996, the competition now enters its fourth decade with one thing in mind: growth.<\/p>\n
Obsessed with growth since its inception, expansion projects have come from Paris to Wales, Toronto, and beyond, while tinkering with the format, number of teams, etc. has come on a tri-year basis, but for Hull FC’s John Cartwright, if you want growth and ultimately a better quality competition, there’s one thing you need above all else: development.<\/p>\n
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, not in the eyes of IMG, with none of their 20 grading points appointed to junior development. In fact, the only rewards a club gets for such development are dispensations on the salary cap, but they’re not enough to make a true difference.<\/p>\n
For Cartwright, who first played in Super League in its second season at Salford back in 1997 and who admired and watched it from Australia before joining Hull last season, it’s the development of young players to a competition he believes already punches above its weight – and certainly compared to the NRL – that is key.<\/p>\n
“I was fortunate to play over here before Super League with Australia on tours and I knew how tough the game was,” Cartwright told Hull Live. “It was very physical back then and it was as physical as the NRL was, to be honest with you, and I don’t think any of that has changed.<\/p>\n
“The brilliant players that come out of the competition \u2013 there are more that come out of the NRL, but only because there are more players. We’re talking about thousands and thousands of kids that play over there, so they’re going to produce a lot of quality players.<\/p>\n
“I think the game over here does enormously well producing the players that it does. The honest thing is we don’t have the same number of players that play the game at a young age and level.<\/p>\n
“But I find the standard here extremely high; you’ve only got to look at the World Club Challenges to see that, and the national team have beaten everyone barring the Aussies in previous years. I think the game here does an enormous job producing the players that it does.”<\/p>\n
Outlining what Super League’s primary focus needs to be, Cartwright continued: “Development – it is everything. Getting kids playing the game is the key to everything. It brings support, it brings quality, and it brings competition, which is how you get better.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, down the track, investment-wise, that’s where a lot of the money is heading, as that’s the future of the game. If we don’t develop, we won’t get the numbers that we need to keep the game strong and keep it going.<\/p>\n
“It’s something in Australia where a lot of time, effort, and money goes in to gain development and gain participation, getting young boys and girls out kicking a football around. That’s where it all starts.”<\/p>\n
Putting their own argument into practice, Hull are keen to develop their own talent. The likes of Lewis Martin, Harvey Barron, and Davy Litten are now mainstays of the first team, and given time, it’s hoped more will follow suit.<\/p>\n
Callum Kemp is poised for another opportunity this weekend, while, deeper in the system, a new crop of teens are making their mark in the scholarship \u2013 beginning their season with a 58-0 thumping of Leeds Rhinos on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
“You get good age groups every now and then and they’re going to be very strong through this competition,” Cartwright added. “The West Hull club age group have won everything before them and even played up an age last year.<\/p>\n
“It’s an age group where there are a lot of very good kids playing together at the one club. It’s exciting for the club and for our fans. The under-16s \u2013 they’re a fair way off \u2013 but again, that’s where you start looking at kids for development. They’re under our banner now and we’re really looking forward to seeing how they progress.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Super League celebrates it’s 30th birthday, there’s one thing that needs to be put above all else,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20805,28318,5903,20370,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-498797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-hull-fc","9":"tag-john-cartwright","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-rugby-league","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498797","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=498797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}