Will Black and Whites fend off NRL interest in Connor?
HULL FC full-back Jake Connor is currently attracting attention from a number of Australian clubs.
Connor has caught the eye with his performances this year and the Mail understands NRL outfits have shown interest in taking him for next season.
Canberra Raiders are one club known to be keen on the 27-year-old after studying his performances.
Of course, having signed a new two-year deal last year, Connor is under contract at the MKM until the end of the 2023 Super League season.
As such, any move for Connor would require a transfer fee and FC are unlikely to want to part with their star man on the cheap.
His contract also indicates that should Connor make the move to the NRL it would have to be on Hull’s terms.
The Englishman, who looks set to represent the Combined Nations All Stars later this month, has a young child and it is unknown if he is keen on the switch.
However, the Raiders will be hopeful of being able to prise him away with a deal to play in the sport’s premier competition next year.
Connor has been one of Super League’s outstanding performers this season, picking up 22 try assists from fullback.
He has also touched down for three tries and he’s not far behind Jai Field in the race to win the Man of Steel award. With such stats, it was inevitable he would crop up on the radars of NRL recruitment managers, who have looked to the Northern Hemisphere with regularity of late.
The likes of Oliver Gildart, Dom Young and Harry Rushton have all made the move in recent seasons.
Connor is in his sixth season with FC after joining from Huddersfield and has made over 130 appearances for the club.
He won the Challenge Cup in his first year with the Black and Whites, coming off the bench at Wembley in 2017, but hasn’t been able to reach a final since, despite playing in a handful of semi-finals.
If he were to leave, Hull would almost certainly need to step into the recruitment market to find a new full-back ahead of next season.
With Josh Reynolds, Luke Gale and Danny Houghton out of contract at the end of the year, the spine is already at the top of the club’s agenda and replacing Connor wouldn’t be easy.