Davy Litten set Hull FC position challenge as young back tasked to find long-term fit

Simon Grix believes Hull FC young gun Davy Litten is still to finalise his best position. The 21-year-old has played full-back, wing, and centre for the Black and Whites, with the latter being his port of call this year.

Litten has played all three of his first-team appearances this season in the centre, a position he is familiar with from his academy days. However, the majority of his career to date has seen Litten play full-back, the spot he is most synonymous with and the one where he featured on loan at York Knights in recent weeks.

Grix, meanwhile, has stated there is scope for all three spots, with the challenge for Litten to cement one having had his new two-year deal confirmed last week, which keeps him at the club until at the least the end of the 2026 season.

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"Davy has picked up a bit of confidence in recent weeks," Grix said on Litten, who was the side's 18th man against Leeds last week. "He's played a couple of games consecutively on loan and then come back to us, whereas when you're playing with the reserves, it's every couple of weeks.

"I think over the next couple of years for Davy, the important thing is getting that kind of game-time, whether that's at Hull or on loan somewhere, and find out exactly what he is in terms of positional preference and what he wants to be.

"I think he can play a bit of full-back, but he's also played at centre and on the wing. At some point, he needs to be leaning towards one.

"He's obviously a talented rugby player, but for his own benefit, he needs to get more games under his belt in a position that he sees his career heading in. We'll help him with that to prepare him for next year."

Laying out his attributes, Grix has said there’s a case for each position, with Litten standing at 6ft 3ins and comfortable under the high ball.

"He's got a lot of attributes that lean him toward being a winger,” Grix added. “He's really tall, and he’s got a great overhead catch. He's got some skill at full-back, which also falls into that, and at centre, he's a big body with those back attributes again to challenge the opposition. He's got an offload game as well.

"There's a bit of x-factor too. It's great to have strings to your bow, but it's also great to have your one focus. We'll work with him on that and find out what it is."

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