Their plight, a struggle against the weight of expectation to be relegated, is at odds with the side they are vying to avoid the wooden spoon with.
Hull FC were given A-grade status in the indicative gradings for 2024, and that safety net has coincided with a season of major underachievement.
They have wasted little time in recruiting for 2025 with a slew of players signed up, but in the process the 2024 season has been allowed to stagnate and wilt, with several of their pre-season imports moved on after disappointing output.
Interim coach Simon Grix has been forced to put young promising players into a tough environment of losses, and use loan arrivals to get the squad through their fixtures.
“There’s so much context within how we’ve gone on this season,” Grix told BBC Radio Humberside before the Salford game last weekend. “The team from where we looked in round one against Hull KR at home is now completely different.
“There’s been a lot going on in that time, it’s been challenging. It’s been a tough old year.”
While Hull FC might have chance to take stock and regroup over the offseason as a Super League club despite this nadir of a campaign, for London, that is currently not an option.
Eccles, himself from the heartlands of rugby league but an evangelist of the London presence given his time invested there, wants IMG to take a different look at the capital, which they previously highlighted as an important growth area.
“I’m very happy to put my name to this. You have got to treat London differently: there has to be an exemption,” he told Love Rugby League., external
“It’s a different world down here. We cut our cloth accordingly, we produce players on par with the best academies in the game and we’ve got a home where we can build. Things are different down here.”
