Hull FC CEO shares plan to solve injury crisis as training ground hint dropped
Hull FC CEO Richie Myler admits the club are looking into whether or not their training schedule could be a contributory factor to the amount of injuries they are getting: admitting the club’s ‘facility and process’ must improve.
The Black and Whites have suffered with injuries for a number of years, and that issue is rearing its head again already in 2026. They have lost players such as Arthur Romano and John Asiata to long-term injuries – with Asiata in particular the latest victim of Hull’s hamstring-related issues.
Myler concedes that some of those issues are unavoidable – but he also said they are doing deep work into examining whether or not their constant switching between 4G and grass training surfaces day-to-day is having a major impact.
He said: “I mean, the amount of review that went into the 2025 season on hamstring injuries, because that was highlighted for us, the talk is it’s not so much about being on 4G or being on grass, it’s the changing of surfaces on a daily basis, that’s where there’s a higher risk of hamstrings.
“Some of our hamstring injuries are because the players we’ve brought in are prone to hamstrings, that’s a fact. Some of our injuries that we’ve also had, if somebody goes through the back of your knee, that kind of force and then that kind of big, your knee’s going to potentially damage.
“So some are unavoidable, but surely, certainly our facility and our process needs to be better, and look, John (Cartwright) has been a part of that.
“John has come into an environment that has needed time to get itself up to standard, because effectively we came into a situation that we were told X and it was Z. So do you understand, it’s trying to, everything can’t be fixed overnight and we are constantly trying to move forward as a club, and that’s why all the decisions that we’re making are to be progressive, because we do want the best.”
Hull are in a long-term partnership with the local University for their training facilities, but Myler admitted that situation is one they are constantly looking at.
He said: “We’re in a partnership with the university for the next 18 years, minimum, because before my time there was a partnership agreement that was agreed between Hull University and Hull FC, which is a really strong partnership.
“But sometimes when you’re working in a shared environment at certain places, it becomes difficult to manage, and the club moved into that partnership or into that building, let’s say, 12 months premature.
“So this is before my time, so we’ve been trying to play catch up ever since. The University have been fantastic, they’ve got every facility really that we need, it’s just about making sure that it’s optimum performance for us, and we’re working with them constantly, and they’ve been fantastic.”
