Simon Grix has insisted that preparation for Hull FC's 2025 season starts now. The Black and Whites squad will report back to the club for end-of-season testing later this week, with the players also touching base with new head coach John Cartwright over video call before his arrival in East Yorkshire next month.
Grix, meanwhile, will be one of Cartwright's assistant coaches next season alongside the returning Andy Last, with the 38-year-old also laying out the importance of some time off and a 'mental checkout' ahead of what everyone at the club hopes will be a much improved season in 2025.
Looking to change habits, Hull will undergo a short break before a strenuous pre-season program begins, with Cartwright renowned for putting his players through their paces. That is expected to be the case this autumn, with Grix documenting the need for a break, also assuring that the groundwork for that has to be put in now in order to come back and match the expectation both physically and mentally come November.
Speaking to Hull Live, Grix said: "We don't want to talk about this year forever, do we? But we need to do something to make it change, and that's where it starts, really. Not only in pre-season, but with our time off, how we plan, and how we treat our bodies in the six-week break, it will all have a bearing on how pre-season goes.
"The lads will be busy, and we have to be better. Physically, those lads will have programs that they're going to be doing and alterations that they need to make to themselves so they're in a good position when they get back.
"There's all that going on, but for me, bigger than that is the mental checkout; just to get away from it for a bit. It has been a noisy year for the wrong reasons, so I think it will do everyone the world of good just to recharge and get ready to go again. There needs to be that period where we go away. Everyone needs that break, fans as well; they need a break from it, and hopefully we can start on a more positive footing come November."
Building everything they do on hard work, Grix is fully behind the messages coming down from director of rugby, Richie Myler, who hasn't shied away from where Hull are and what they need to do to get better next year. That honesty will serve Hull well, with Grix, who is looking forward to a bit of a 'reset,' keen to get the key 'cogs' turning with nine new signings joining Cartwright and the new backroom staff.
"We need to get our effort and our attitude right, and that's how you build into pre-season," he continued. "We had a disjointed pre-season last year. Some important cogs weren't able to train or weren't in the country until later. I think this time we should just about have everyone here for the first day of it so they can start dragging themselves along in the right direction together.
"Pre-season is your opportunity to get everyone on the same page and develop not only your body but your mental fitness as well. I've been reading the bits, and everyone says it's going to be the hardest pre-season ever and all of those sorts of things, but it'll be all on how we want to attack it as a group and how much we want to change things.
"I'm sure you'll hear it before Christmas; you'll do the interviews, and it's the best pre-season ever. Everyone says it, and then you kick a ball and you find out where you're at. We want to make sure that when we do kick a ball, we're in a good position, so the hard work has to be done."
Grix added: "There are blokes coming in who are fresh to it, but there's also a group who are here now, and they're going to have to change about how they go about things, but I'm looking forward to it. It's a fresh approach, and it's genuinely a bit of a reset for the squad.
"John's coming in. He's watched them on TV; he doesn't know them as people yet, but there's all that to be worked out, so everyone has got a fresh crack at trying to impress and better themselves for what hopefully can be a more pleasant year next year."
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