Hull FC's unwanted seven-year record shines light on Steve McNamara challenge ahead

Hull FC have a proud and historic record of producing players for the national team over the years.

From the likes of Kirk Yeaman and Richard Horne to Paul Eastwood, Lee Jackson, Clive Sullivan, Johnny Whiteley, Tommy Harris, Harold Bowman and Frank Boylen, Black and White representation in touring national team parties was once considered to be regular occurrence.

However, as England head down under to ready themselves for the start of their World Cup campaign next weekend, it's hard to ignore the fact that there are no Hull players involved in the squad.

In fact, it's been seven years since an FC man played for England or Great Britain. Jake Connor was the last to do so, with the half-back being selected by Wayne Bennett for the ill-fated Great Britain tour of 2019.

What's arguably worse, though, is that no Hull player came close to selection this time around. FC's Englishmen could book their holidays at the end of the season without giving England selection much consideration at all and when that squad was announced earlier this week, not one legitimate Black and White argument could be made.

That simply has to change.

Steve McNamara's job isn't to get players into the England squad, far from it. His focus will quite rightly be on Hull and getting the players at his disposal to perform to the best of their abilities on a weekly basis.

That's the be all and end all for the incoming head coach and that's what he will be judged on. Doing so will lead to positive results and Hull will ultimately climb up the Super League table as a result.

However, international call-ups are a welcome by-product of that and the likes of Will Pryce, Lewis Martin, Harvey Barron, Bailey Hodgson and Harvie Hill all possess the type of ability and talent needed to one day reach international level.

As it stands, they're the most likely candidates to break FC's absence from the England squad down the line and if they can play a part in helping Hull become a contender once more, it's only natural that they'll be considered for a call-up.

FC haven't been short of homegrown talent in the last seven years and they're certainly not now. As a club though, they just haven't been able to put it together enough on a regular basis to be considered above those from elsewhere.

Beyond Connor, Hull's most recent England internationals are Jamie Shaul, Scott Taylor, Joe Westerman and Danny Tickle. It's about time a new name was added to that list.

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