Tony’s departure was a shock, but we’ve just got to get on with it...
GRIX SETS OUT HIS MISSION AS INTERIM HEAD COACH OF BLACK AND WHITES
When Simon Grix joined Hull FC last autumn, he never imagined he would be in the head coach’s hot seat just eight games into the new season. In fact, Grix came to FC to work under Tony Smith, who parted ways with the club last week, 18 months into his original two-year contract.
But things don’t always work out how you plan, and the former Halifax and Warrington player now finds himself in that very hot seat as interim head coach.
But for Grix, who is tasked with picking up the pieces after a turbulent start to the year, the message is simple: get on with it.
That’s all he, and indeed everyone else at Hull, can do, taking each day as it comes with the view to grinding themselves out of their situation.
Speaking for the first time since being appointed to the role, Grix told the Mail: “I think Tony’s departure was a shock to everyone, but things happen quickly in sports, and we’ve just got to get on with it.
“It’s a surprise to be in this role, but I’m happy to do it and crack on.
“There’s nothing else to do, really. I understand this is the game. I think it was Tony who told me when I first started coaching that if you want security, then go get a job at Tesco.
“He understands it and gets the game, and as much as he’s hurting at the moment, that’s unfortunately where it’s at for coaches, and a good man has lost his job. Of course, it’s unfortunate and it’s disappointing, but we’re here to do a job, and we just have to get on with it now and try to improve and change.”
Improve and change is exactly what Grix will try to do at Hull. With seven defeats in eight games to start the season. He’s got a tough hand, but he’s determined to make the most of it, adding his own imprints and thoughts to the team.
“I’ve got my own ideas, and when you’re in charge, you get to have your opinion and do your thing,” Grix explained. “My opinion on the game isn’t too far away from Tony’s, and wholesale change isn’t the way forward in terms of systems and certainly can’t be achieved at speed.
“As a group, we need to come together and build some belief and trust in each other. That will transfer to performance in the end.
“Gameplans and systems only really work if everyone is pulling in the same direction, and that’s where we need to get to.
“We’re just going to go week by week. That’s the plan. I’m leading this with Jason (Davidson), Benno (Tom Bennett), and Franny (Cummins) in the background. They’re a good group of people. We’ll just rip into it and try to improve things as best we can. We’ve trained twice so far. We trained on Friday and had a really good session. We made sure we made it hard for them. It was tough, but we’re here to work hard, and we’ve all got to up our game, the players, and the coaching staff as well. We’ve got to dig in and get on with it. That’s been the chat with the boys. The position we’re in is never the fault of one man alone. There are a lot of people involved in this, and we have all played a part in what happened, but there’s no magic fix.
“It’s not going to fix itself, but in my experience, the only answer is to keep working hard until your luck changes.”
And as for his future, Grix, who could put himself in the reckoning or go back to being an assistant coach, has an open mind.
“I could be here in this role for the remainder of this season, but I want to be a head coach again someday,” he added. “I came here to work under an experienced head coach in Tony, but that hasn’t worked out, and now I find myself where I am at the moment. I don’t know what the future holds or whether the club would want to go with me, depending on how things go. But as they’ve said publicly, they are talking to coaches, and the search for a coach is underway. All I’ll do is keep cracking on with it. I will tweak a couple of things to my way of seeing things, but basically, I’m here to do my job as well as the lads. That’s work hard and learn fast until we get the performances we are proud of.”