Danny Houghton delivers passionate Hull FC culture call as player onus taken for Tony Smith exit

Danny Houghton has rubbished any claims that Hull FC have a 'bad' or 'toxic' culture. The Black and Whites currently sit second from bottom in the Super League table and have leaked 302 points in eight games so far this year.

That has left many fans and pundits questioning Hull's current trajectory, with Tony Smith, who departed the club last week, previously defining culture as how you treat and speak to one another and how hard and intensely you work for each other both in training and in games, among many other things from attitude, desire, grit, to urgency.

And for Houghton, who delivered a passionate account in Hull's pre-match press conference ahead of Friday's trip to St Helens, there's no doubt that the club's culture is made up of the right ingredients and that the players care about improving the current situation. It's just replicating it from the training ground to the playing field that's been Hull's biggest issue this year, and the one thing above all else that they are trying to rectify as they look to get their season on an upward curve with 20 rounds still to go.

"It gets thrown up all the time that the culture is horrible at Hull FC," Houghton explained. "Why is the culture bad? To me, a bad culture is when things are horrible, bad people are around the place, and it's a toxic environment.

"I don't see that here. We just haven't performed on the field. I don't see where it comes from—this horrible culture and this toxic environment—but that's what we're labelled with, and the only way we can change it is through results. If we're winning every game, all of a sudden we've got a great culture, and it's not toxic anymore, so we've got to go down that route.

"When we were successful and we were winning a lot, that's how it was. We had a playing group that cared. But we care now too. When people say some lads don't care, of course they care and they want to win. Unfortunately, we haven't won and we've not performed to the levels required, but that doesn't suggest that we don't care and we don't want to win. We care for the club, and we want the club to be successful.

"No player goes out onto the field and doesn't want to perform, but unfortunately this season, we haven't been able to put our best foot forward and get that level of performance that we warrant from each other and that the club and the fans warrant. That's on us to change."

Hurting after a difficult week, Hull head to Merseyside knowing they have to produce a performance, with Houghton conceding recent poor displays have cost a 'great man' his job. And while the finger is pointed here, there, and everywhere, the captain knows the onus has to be on the players as much as anyone, who were shocked when the news broke of Smith's departure last week.

"We were under the illusion that Tony was here for the foreseeable future, but obviously, things have changed," Houghton said. "Tony came in and told us. Some boys are a bit disappointed; they got along well with Tony, but that's the nature of sport.

"Tony is upset. He wanted to get things right here, and he had a good relationship with the group, and vice versa. He is a great man, and he gave a lot back to us, and I know it didn't show on the field, but around the place, he always had your back and always looked out for you. But sports is a results-based business, and inevitably, we didn't do our job, which cost him his job.

"We're gutted about that, our form, and what we've been doing on the field. It's not a nice feeling. We don't want to be labelled like that, but we are. We've got to put that right for Grixy coming in now and whoever comes in in the future. We just have to crack on with it and make sure that we move on and try to put things right."

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Stepping up on an interim basis, Simon Grix will now take charge of Hull alongside Francis Cummins, with Houghton focused on making sure responsibility is taken and the key fundamentals are improved.

"We've been nowhere near, and the manner of results have been poor," Houghton added. "Only we as a playing group can fix that. You bring any coach in the world in, but ultimately we step out there and perform, but we haven't been doing that. We have to aim up now and get on with it.

"It's not ideal, but Grixy has stepped in and given us some key instructions and key things that we need to improve on. He's told us how he wants things to look in the future, and the boys have bought into that. We are where we are at the moment, and we need to rise up to that, get around each other, get together, and improve.

"Grixy has a real level of respect from the boys, who have bought into the few changes that he has made. Franny has come in too, but change is only good if you make it good. I honestly believe that anyone could come in, but it's up to us as a playing group to change that. They've come in and been a breath of fresh air, and that's good for us, but inevitably we still have to get that level of performance that we know that we require. It's on us to get it right."

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