Hull FC’s Female Pathways Manager Jack Coates has reflected on the season so far for the club’s Women’s and Girls sides, ahead of Friday’s Women In League match day.
The club’s female pathway, part of the club’s Centre of Excellence, has gone from strength to strength this year, which now features almost 100 women and girls playing Rugby League.
Success has come from the club’s U14s and U16s Girls sides, who both won their respective division titles, while several players have also been selected to represent Yorkshire – the first steps on the path to playing internationally for England.
Speaking to hullfc.com, Jack said: “The U14’s and U16’s winning the league this year was brilliant and was a just reward for all the hard work they have been putting in.
“The progress shown by both groups in only their second ever season, one partially interrupted by COVID, has been remarkable and I hope we can continue building and growing the pathway.”
The success of the U16s side in particular has been emphasised by several players making the step-up to represent the Hull FC Women’s side.
“Being able to blood some of our current U16’s and U16’s from last season into the Women’s team has been a huge positive to take from this year,” he added.
“We have been in a real period of transition and rebuild with the senior team, but being able to call upon our younger girls from within the pathway and have them not just step up but really hold their own has been incredibly rewarding for us.”
And while Hull FC’s Women’s team haven’t been able to replicate the success of the club’s Girls sides this season, Coates believes that positive progress has been made within the side.
“The season for the Women’s team has not gone as we would have planned. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the year we had a lot of issues arise that were out of our control with players moving on to different opportunities and the coaching setup changing hands.
“But I think we have managed to make some positive progress throughout the year, regained some really experienced players. And with two wins on the bounce we are hoping to finish the season in a much better position and really hit the ground running in 2023.”
Praising some of the stand-out performers across the squads, he picked out his captains in particular for their efforts during 2022.
“Our thee club captains have been real standouts this season; Olivia Turner of the U14’s, Bethan Candlin of the U16’s, and Ruby Magson of the Women’s team.
“All three have shown great leadership skills at different times this year both on and off the field and reinforced the decision to give them these important roles.
“We have so many fantastic players at our different age groups that deserve a lot of recognition for being really good people as well as good players.”
Coates also explained his pride to have several players selected in the Yorkshire Regional Hubs squad earlier this summer, which form part of the England pathway.
“We were hugely proud to have five of our U16’s represent Central Yorkshire at this year’s RFL Talent Hubs – the first step on the England pathway.
“They completed a five week training block culminating in game opportunities against other national hubs. Evie Sexton, Charlotte Lawson, Isabelle Brown, Poppy Howdle & Bethan Candlin represented both the club and themselves incredibly well throughout the whole process.
“The girls will now wait to find out if they have been selected as one of the 30 players onto the England DiSE programme which is the next step towards the England Senior side – we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed!”
Looking back on the year as a whole, Coates added: “When I reflect on this year, I am so pleased with everything we have managed to achieve. We have a thriving female pathway with almost 100 women and girls playing rugby league on a weekly basis.
“We have two successful youth teams and a recently setup U12’s team who are going from strength to strength and playing with smiles on their faces!
“We are also in the process of setting up our female academy at the Hull Fc Sports College that has it’s own designated education tutor and full time coach. This is a way for us to get girls into a full time rugby programme where they study, train & play!
“The future of our pathway is in a really strong position and I hope we can continue to grow and flourish.”
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