Academy chief hails positive impact by coach Hodgson
HULL FC’S academy chief Danny Wilson is excited by the positive impact Brett Hodgson has already made on the club’s youth set-up.
The new head coach has been in the job for less than two months but already he has shown a keen interest in working with the club’s youngsters and has laid out plans for future development.
Hodgson does have plenty of experience when it comes to emerging talent having worked in the academy during his time at Widnes Vikings, where he helped Jordan Johnstone break through, while also working with Wests Tigers feeder team Western Suburb Magpies.
Hence, it should not come as a surprise that he is keen to build on the pathway that already exists between the first team and the academy structure.
One of his first decisions in the job was to bring Wilson into the firstteam fold to provide that link, but he has also given seven of the most talented young players in the club the chance to train with the first team over the course of pre-season.
That’s just a start, though, and Wilson is enthusiastic about what the future holds for the Black and Whites’ young players under Hodgson.
“He’s got a lot of experience working in the systems both at
Widnes and back home and he really buys into the youth coming through,” Wilson told the Mail.
“It’s great for us as an academy and making sure he has a touch point with that.
“It’s not always realistic for him to be at all of our sessions but I know he’ll try and he has been down to scholarship sessions we got on before Christmas and some of the college sessions that we ran.
“I know he’ll try and he’s trying to bring me in a little bit more to bridge the gap and make sure communication is going straight through the club and those boys have a touch point with the first team.
“Brett’s plan is to build for the long-term future and he’ll openly admit that he wants to play a part in what the future will be for the club, whether he’s involved in that or not, he’s here to build some foundations.
“It’s not always about the technical and tactical, although there is a lot of that, it’s more about the behaviours and leadership qualities of players.
“What we need to start coaching young boys in the academy to portray as they come through is to set some standards and make sure training intensity is high and off the field and around town they do the right things and that’s very much what we’re looking at with the academy and linking it to the first team.”