1 week Ago By [email protected] (Daniel Tomlinson)
Hull FC half-back Jack Charles will play his first rugby league match of the 2025 season this Friday night – and he'll do it as part of a spine combination tipped for a big future at the club. Set to play alongside fellow young half Callum Kemp – a combination nurtured since their scholarship days – Charles is also likely to take the field alongside Callum's twin brother Lloyd Kemp, as well as his best friend Will Hutchinson. The quartet have long been at the forefront of Hull's youth development, with the club putting a big emphasis on developing their own players into the first-team.
That ambition is shared by head coach John Cartwright, who knows time and patience hold the key to making a long-term desire a success. But there's no denying the excitement of seeing the spine link up for the first time this season for the reserves against Warrington Wolves at Victoria Park this Friday night, with Charles overcoming hamstring and ankle injuries to return to full training and now line up for his first appearance of the year. "Everyone is really excited for Jack," Cartwright told Hull Live.
"He's a really popular member of the team and has had so much bad luck this year. He's worked really hard on his injuries to get back. "It's just unfortunate that he picked them up back-to-back, but he's in full training now, and I like what I see on the training field.
"It's really exciting for the club to have him, the Kemp twins, and Will Hutchinson, all young boys, not far out of the academy, with two of them still academy age, and to be able to put them all on the field and hopefully play lots of games consistently together, I think that's a big bonus for the club. "There's talent in those key areas, and it's critical that they play football, and if they can play together, then even better, but just to build that understanding so it's second nature, you only get that with time spent together. "It's a start this weekend, but no one here expects too much of them too early.
Everyone wants to play in the Super League, but for us as a club with what we have at the moment, the more time we can get them playing together at the best level we can get them, it's a process, but it's really exciting. "It's just about tempering expectations from everyone around us – we've all got to remember that they're only 18/19 years old. They've got a long time in front of them, but the more time they can spend training with the fellas that are here and playing together, they'll get an odd chance here and there, but for me as a coach and from the club's perspective, long-term we definitely see them playing a role in those positions.
It's just about being patient and giving them time together." Elsewhere in Hull's rising youth departments, the academy has started the season 2 and 0 with eye-catching wins over Wakefield Trinity and Leigh Leopards, with the reserves also winning recent fixtures against Castleford Tigers and Hull KR . And while results are second to development, the mannerisms have impressed Cartwright, with some well-executed team tries arising from both victories.
But once again, the same message applies. "It's the long-term plan of the club to produce from within," Cartwright continued. "Wigan have been doing it for a long time, and Leeds and St Helens, to an extent.
"It's exciting for the club, but again, they're all young kids, and it's not about thinking that they're going to come in here and change the course of the first-grade team; it's spending as much time together as they can, winning games together, and winning trophies together, and when the time is right, we'll have go to players." And while time and patience are key, Cartwright has been around the block long enough to know chances may arise this year. He added: "It's all about patience.
We're fortunate that a few of them got first-team experience last year, even though they probably weren't quite ready for it. That's always a big trap; I've seen a lot of young kids go in when they're not quite ready, but they've gone in, handled themselves pretty well, and they've had a pre-season, and now hopefully we get to see them play consistently together. "Opportunities might arise between now and the end of the year, but the focus for me is to get those boys prepared and right for the next wave of kids coming through.
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