Cade Cust has been making the most of his off-season as he prepares for the first day of pre-season training with Hull FC.
A winner of the Challenge Cup and League Leaders Shield with Wigan Warriors, Cust heads to the Black & Whites, where he will be reunited with John Cartwright.
After his one-year spell with Salford Red Devils, Cust made a pitstop back to Australia during the off-season, but he says there has been no let-up on the training front.
“It’s been a good off-season. I went back to Australia to see my mum, who I hadn’t seen for twelve months, so it was great to see her again, but I’ve also been hitting the gym pretty hard,” he said.
“It’s been about 30 degrees in Australia, so it’s also been a good chance to get out for a few runs as well to keep the body ticking over.
“Wherever I’ve been during my career so far, I’ve always had the philosophy of training hard and competing as hard as possible because that transfers into your game.
“I’ve always had that mindset and that’s definitely what I’ll be bringing into day one.”
Cust, who played in the NRL in Australia with Manly Sea Eagles, will team up with John Cartwright again.
Cartwright was previously an assistant coach at Manly during Cust’s time there.
The 26-year-old has plenty of good things to say about Hull’s new Head Coach, and Cust believes he will bring a sense of unity to the Black & Whites.
“I think he just has such a hard mindset. He won’t take any nonsense and that will give us a hardened edge, I think,” he said.
“That mindset of just being tough will spread across the whole club, so that’s one of the key reasons why I’m looking forward to working with him again.
“When I was at Manly with him, his people-management was great. You really can have a proper conversation with him, so I’m looking forward to catching up and really ripping into pre-season.”
The Australian utility player has plenty of experience under his belt, despite being midway through his career at the age of 26.
His time in England has seen him win a Challenge Cup title in 2022 and a League Leaders Shield title in 2023.
Now, his journey brings him to Hull, a city where Rugby League is often the talk of the town.
“Coming over from Australia, it’s all just Rugby League over there. So coming over to Hull is going to be quite a similar environment, I feel, with how passionate the fans are about their footy in the city,” he explained.
“I’m really looking forward to getting amongst the community and playing in front of the fans.
“It’s no secret that Carty’s going to be working us really hard in pre-season. I’ll be working really hard to get the body ready and hopefully I can get plenty of game time this year and show what I’m all about.”
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