Hull FC head coach Brett Hodgson was speaking to the press this afternoon ahead of Friday night’s clash with Wakefield Trinity and of course, he was quizzed on the club’s recruitment plans.

The Black and Whites are looking to make a number of changes to their playing group over the off-season, with owner Adam Pearson saying as much in his programme notes ahead of last weekend’s game with Wigan Warriors.

Hodgson spoke briefly about those comments on Saturday, underlining his desire to see strength in depth added to the squad.

However, he was asked more questions in his pre-match press conference about what Pearson’s quotes might mean, the possibility of players leaving and more.

You made it clear you wanted a middle but it never happened, was that something you lacked this season?

Yes, it was. In particular when you haven’t had Scott Taylor for the majority of the year and Josh Bowden was in and out of the team.

We had to rely on Fash, who has done a superb job and put his hand up all the time and we had to rely on big minutes for Chris and Ligi through the middle.

Eventually that takes its toll. You have someone like Jordan Lane as well, who has had a great year, he’s played nearly every game in the middle of the park and that takes its toll.

You need that rotation to be able to not rely on those big boys as much as we had to this year.

Is finding that man a priority now then?

Yes, it is.

You spoke about Adam Pearson’s comments on Saturday, but how important is it for you to put your own stamp on this team by freshening it up?

I came with a job to do last year and I think we could see there was change at the start of the season.

We know that things have happened out of our control have eventually got us to the point we are now, but we will continue evolving the squad.

That’s what I’ve spoken about since minute one. I’m not going to speculate on what that means but we are looking to bring people in, there’s no doubt about that.

Hull FC owner Adam Pearson and the 2021 squad
Hull FC owner Adam Pearson and the 2021 squad

Does that mean players under contract could potentially leave?

As I said, I’m not going to speculate on any of that at this stage.

What I will say is that we need to get to the heights of semi-final football and above and we will work hard to make sure whatever happens in the next couple of weeks is directed towards that.

The willingness from Adam to make changes over the off-season, that’s a positive thing for you, isn’t it?

Again, I’m not willing to speculate on any of that. Adam is very passionate about this club doing well and he has been for a number of years.

Obviously he hurts more than anyone when we don’t get the results and he’s desperate to get us to the level that he wants and that we want as a club and the supporters want as well.

He is right in the trenches with me and we’re having these conversations constantly and we will work together to make sure we get ourselves where we want to get to.

Joe Wardle is a player that has been linked to the club, can you give us anything on that?

Yeah, again, I’m not willing to speculate on anything at this moment.