McNamara or Cayless - who has hardest job in Hull?

Hull FC announced the appointment of McNamara in April while the 55-year-old was still an assistant coach at Warrington under the leadership of Sam Burgess.

The Black and Whites finished a disappointing 11th last term, the sixth consecutive year in which they have missed out on the play-offs, and McNamara knows the magnitude of the job he has on his hands to turn fortunes around.

In the off-season, Hull have already confirmed the signings of 10 new players, including Bailey Hodgson from Leigh, Arlix Da Costa from Catalans and six-time State of Origin series winner Daly Cherry-Evans.

Despite being away for 30 years following his move to Bradford Bulls as a player in 1996 - McNamara still has recent family ties to the club as son Ben, now of Castleford, plied his trade for Hull FC between 2020 and 2023.

"I'm really proud and honoured," McNamara told BBC Radio Humberside. "The history that it's got, and the great coaches that it's had, it's my time now to take over the baton.

"I've had opportunities in the past to come back but it's never been the right time – either for myself or the club. Now, it just feels right.

"I wouldn't have come back to the club now unless I felt it had a real opportunity for some growth and it had potential.

"We've got a big gap from where the other teams are quite clearly. The league position doesn't lie but I think this [team] has got more potential than any other team right now in Super League."

Hull won just eight Super League games last season. They have only recorded fewer wins in a single campaign once (2024, with just three) this century.

Unlike his new squad, McNamara can remember a time when Hull FC were competing at the top of the game. He was in attendance as a young fan when the Black and Whites last won the top division over 43 years ago.

"In 1979, I was an eight-year-old with my dad and that was the first season I started watching them," he said.

"And then following them through the 1980s and '90s – and getting to captain the club. There's something deep down there.

"All we ask of the players now is they're all in, every single day.

"Anything that's happened in the past is irrelevant to most of us now. We have no baggage from that, we're coming in fresh. It's refreshing for everyone involved."

Settling into the Hull FC hotseat, the former Bradford Bulls boss can immediately put his own stamp on the side having also coached in France with Catalans, as well as in New Zealand and Australia.

There were complaints last season that Hull were not as fit as they should have been, and McNamara has taken steps to get the players in better shape.

On multiple occasions last season, including in two Hull derbies in July, the Black and Whites started strongly in the first half and blew out in the second.

He has brought in Nathan Mills from St Helens as the new medical high-performance specialist, as well as Jimmy McDaniel as head of performance from neighbouring Kingston Rovers, both labelled "world class" by McNamara.

"No disrespect to anyone else but I don't think the investment in that area [strength and conditioning] has been good enough and we've backed some high-quality people to be involved in our organisation," McNamara said.

In paying Warrington a "substantial transfer fee to secure McNamara's services",, external the implication is the Hull board will give McNamara time to implement big, and necessary, changes.

"It's a juggernaut of a club," McNamara added. "The one consistent thing it has had over recent years is the amount of supporters that go, home and away.

"We'll finish where we deserve to finish. How we conduct ourselves, on and off the field, between now and the end of the season.

"If we keep improving, you don't know when you're going to stop improving."

It is a different sort of new start for Nathan Cayless at Hull KR.

Unlike McNamara, this is the 48-year-old's first job as a head coach, and unlike McNamara, the Robins are aiming to focus on evolution next year, rather than revolution.

The blueprint should not be ripped up following Hull KR's stunning 2025 season in which they completed a historic treble before wrapping up all four major honours by winning the World Club Challenge in February.

But a disappointing defence of their Super League crown last season means a change in management could still help freshen things up for a squad which largely remains from two campaigns ago.

While McNamara is Hull through and through, Cayless has spent his entire club career in the NRL, having spent 13 years as a player for the Parramatta Eels before becoming an assistant coach for the Sydney-based club following his retirement in 2010.

"A lot of preparation work has already been done," Cayless told BBC Radio Humberside.

"I've really been getting itchy feet. It [seeing Craven Park for the first time] was surreal. I didn't get the opportunity to play over here but now to be a part of it is very exciting.

"I can't thank everyone enough for making us all feel welcome, my wife and I.

"I love how closely the community is tied into the team.

"I've got a load of really good mates that have either worked or played here, who have said nothing but great things - not only the club, but the people of the area, the community.

"It reminds me of Parramatta. It's a real club feel and I've felt that for the entire period I've been here so far."

First in Cayless' in-tray will be finding the key to unlock the best form of influential half-back Mikey Lewis.

On too many occasions last season, it was a case of if you could stop Lewis, you could stop the Robins entirely.

Cayless will need to tap into Lewis, as well as finding more creativity on a consistent basis from the other backs at his disposal if former Man of Steel Lewis is misfiring.

Despite the focus on evolving the current playing staff, the Hull KR board do not want a 'Willie Peters mark two' type of coach, even if the Australian guided the club to their first league championship in 40 years.

Cayless is open on having held conversations with Peters over recent months.

The former New Zealand international says Peters was clear on how much "care and love" is put into the club by the staff, highlighting the support he felt from the board was one of the key reasons in taking the job.

"When this opportunity arose, we sat down as a family and without our kids' buy-in it was going to be pretty difficult to do," Cayless told BBC Radio Humberside.

"We get one crack at life, and you want to make sure you have no regrets.

"I've been coaching for 12 years now and deliberately taking my time."

There are some underlying similarities between the two coaches though despite the obvious differences.

Both McNamara and Cayless continuously stressed the importance of "improving" their respective sides as they come in new having been assistants last year.

So, as a slightly more unknown quantity to McNamara, what can Kingston Rovers fans expect from a Cayless side next year?

"What I will promise, we're going to work really hard throughout pre-season," Cayless said.

"I promise that the team is going to be ready to start pre-season. They'll [the players] make their community proud of how they perform.

"These guys that are in the stands, if they're proud of the performance of the team, the results will look after themselves."

With three months before the start of the Super League season, there is of course still lots of time for both teams to improve and hit the ground running immediately.

What does seem clear is these old foes have gone in different directions in order to achieve that sought-after improvement.