Coach Peter Gentle has left Hull FC after a season that promised so much. James Smailes looks at the task now facing his successor Lee Radford.
GLORIOUS in its inconsistency, Hull FC's 2013 season is one which will be remembered for the contrasting fortunes of a side which offered so much but, too often, delivered little.
Scintillating at their best at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in May, whilst calamitous at their worst in a record defeat to Huddersfield last week, the disparity between
performances is striking.
From the highs of a Challenge Cup semi-final victory over a very good Warrington team, to the lows of their Wembley appearance in a cup final to forget. Just like 12 months earlier, inconsistency signalled the death knell for Hull's top-four hopes and, ultimately, their trophy chances.
The aftermath will provide a new landscape at a club which is
desperate for success but has struggled to find the formula to provide it.
In Lee Radford and a team of local coaches, who understand the
culture of the city and its expectations, owner Adam Pearson
believes he's found a way forward.
A new head coach, assistants,
conditioning staff and an emphasis on returning the club to its local roots is a dramatic U-turn from the direction taken under Peter Gentle.
For Radford, who the Mail
understands will be confirmed in his new role within the next 24 hours, the objectives will remain the same as departing coach Gentle. The difference, though, is those objectives will no doubt be approached with more of a tinge of realism.
Hull have a good squad, but one which relies on all the pieces of the machine to be working at optimum level for results to be produced.
That type of squad relies on
consistency, a factor which has been in short supply throughout a sometimes turbulent year.
From the moment they lost
captain Gareth Ellis in the warm-up of the Super League opener at Leeds Rhinos, there was an all too familiar feel to what was supposed to be a season of change.
Defeat at Headingley was the first of many in an opening two months which provided only two victories in nine games.
In hindsight, it is befitting that it took a special performance from one of Hull's homegrown future stars to spark the season into life.
Jamie Shaul's first of two tries at Wakefield on Easter Monday ignited the performance of the Black and Whites, helping them to a win that would begin a run of results to turn their season around.
Radford's own assessment in the Mail after the game regarding Shaul's lack of opportunities and what is wrong with the British game also provided a good indication of his coaching philosophy.
Victory at Wakefield was the first of nine in April and May, with only a home defeat to Wigan – in a game Hull should have won – blotting their copy book.
Gentle's men were flying high again, with the early-season issues behind them and confidence sweeping through the camp.
It made what was to follow all the more difficult to understand.
A week after beating Leeds at the KC to end May with a 100 per cent record, Hull served up a woeful
display in France.
Defeats to Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield followed as their recent form left them alarmingly.
Using the cup run not as a
distraction, but a source of inspiration, Hull again got back on track.
But the damage of two poor runs of results either side of April and May had taken its toll and fighting for a play-off place and not the top four was all that was left.
There have been mitigating factors in a below-par season.
The loss of Ellis before the season had officially started was a hammer blow, while other notable injuries also left Hull light on experience and often size too.
But when he returns home to
Australia, there's no doubt Gentle will sense he never had the chance to see through what he has started.
The emergence of Shaul, Ben Crooks and Tom Lineham offers plenty of hope for the future, and by nurturing that talent the Aussie
deserves credit. Gentle won't depart in disgrace and many fans wish he was staying on.
Unfortunately, his players let him down badly at Huddersfield, and he will leave under a cloud, even if the decision to replace him wasn't taken in the aftermath of that debacle.
Looking over the season as a whole, Pearson has been
disgruntled at both results and
performances, prompting what will be sweeping changes.
The biggest task facing Radford is not making Hull's best performance significantly better, but finding a way to get this group of players to play to a suitable standard on a more consistent basis.
