Simon Grix believes Hull FC's new signings will have a big impact on the culture within the club for the 2025 season and beyond. The Black and Whites have signed nine new players for next year in what has been a large squad turnover, with three more arriving mid-season.
Calling the new acquisitions as 'culture architects,' Grix is backing them to enhance the squad environment next term, with experienced players added to a young squad in the hope of raising standards, finding accountability, and putting words into action.
In Grix's view, the likes of Jordan Rapana, John Asiata, and Zak Hardaker will drive their youthful counterparts and help develop them into better players, thus creating a winning environment and culture. It's a process Hull hope will kickstart next season, and then evolve as they put their development plan into action with more academy promotions set to join the first team environment for pre-season training and beyond.
But in order for it to work, Grix has insisted that there needs to be a collective and sincere buy-in to what they're doing. It can't just be from the coach; it needs to be from every player, especially the senior leadership types within the squad 'living the things they are talking about.'
"We're trying to bring people in who know what a good environment looks like," Grix, speaking in his weekly press conference, said. "We haven't got a terrible environment, but from a team that expects so much, we're quite far away from where we need to get it to.
"But that environment can't and will not work if it's just coaching staff just driving it, or the owner, or whatever it might be. You need blokes in the room; the term 'cultural architects' is what I've heard before—people who are living what you're talking about and also dragging each other up and holding each other accountable to the levels that you are committing to. The new signings are going to play a big part in that, and it will certainly rub off on those young impressionable players that we've got."
Grix is also counting on competition for places next season, with the new signing giving Hull some genuine seniority in some key positions, notably full-back, half-back, and in the back row. For the interim coach, who will move back into an assistant role under John Cartwright next season, that competition bodes well, with the incentive to drive each other on and buy into systems, methods, and the like, with next season's goals centred on honest, hard work and nothing less.
Competition will also ensure Hull can not overexpose young players and instead drop them into a more senior environment, something that will benefit the players in question and hopefully the clubs on field performances.
"I've talked about competition before," Grix added. "We've been going poorly at times this year but we've not been able to change the world and and swap people in and out as we've not had anything there, but we will have that next year. It will be interesting, and hopefully players can get on board with it, get used to it, and prove themselves.
"It's vital for every team—that competition for places. If you've just got your front line and then you're looking at your younger end and you're going, 'Should we do that? Is he ready for it? And it's not just rugby decisions; it's the physical bit. Is he ready for that? Is he mentally prepared for that? How's his behaviour going to change through this exposure when they're not ready for it or earned it?' Having the ability to swap the team based on merit and having genuine experienced players to swap them with will make things very different from what they've been this year."
Click here - Get the latest news on our Rugby League Live WhatsApp channel
