In the latest of our Throwback Thursday ex-player feature interviews, hullfc.com caught up with the former Black & White Danny Washbrook to discuss his memories of the impressive 2006 Super League campaign.
Despite the relative success of the 2006 season with the Black & Whites going on a magical 13 game winning run and reaching their maiden Super League Grand Final, it wasn’t all sunshine and happiness at the start of the campaign, with a change of leadership needed to push on FC to the next level.
John Kear, who had led the Airlie Birds to their first Challenge Cup triumph in almost a quarter of a century just months earlier, would see his tenure come to an end less than half-way into the campaign, as Washbrook, who was 21 at the time, explains.
“John Kear started that season as coach after winning the Challenge Cup in 2005. That year had ended on a bit of a sour note; we’d gone to Warrington and beaten them comprehensively with Andrew Johns playing his final game, so everybody was on a high from that, and then a week later went to Bradford and got absolutely hammered with Stephen Kearney getting sent off in his final ever game.
“The start to 2006 wasn’t great. We made a couple of signings including Sid Domic and Lee Radford, so there was a good feeling in the camp but we couldn’t transfer that onto the field in those early games.
“We lost more than half of our opening ten games and got knocked out the cup and unfortunately that was the end of John Kear, with Richard Agar taking over for a few games before Peter Sharp took charge.
“It was a shame to lose John, he was a popular figure around the camp and he was the coach who gave me my first real chance the season before. A lot of the lads liked him.”
Sharp, who had been the head coach of the Northern Eagles and Manly Sea Eagles from 1999 to 2003 and has also been an assistant coach at Parramatta Eels, Newcastle Knights and Melbourne Storm, signed with the club in April 2006, and Washbrook recalled his first impressions of the new boss.
“My first impressions of Sharpy was that he came across as a really knowledgeable bloke.
“He didn’t change too much at first, he just tweaked a few little things which seemed to have a bigger effect. Obviously it worked because we went on to win the next 13 games in a row which is still a record that stands to this day.”
Washbrook speaks highly of his teammates from the 2006 campaign; both those from overseas, and his fellow Englishmen who made up a strong core of the squad.
“Richard Swain was an absolute champion bloke. He always trained hard, day in, day out and was the fittest bloke in the squad.
“He wasn’t the biggest but he did everything to make himself as strong as he could. Off the field, his lifestyle was bang on – he ate the right things and looked after himself the best he could. He was just a victim of his own circumstances, after making 1,000 tackles a season, it caught up with him in the end.”
“Motu Tony joined at the same time as me in 2005 and he ended up being an integral part of that Challenge Cup winning side, eventually standing in for Shaun Briscoe in the final as we all know. In 2006 he was one of our strongest performers.
“Shayne McMenemy had been at the club for three of four years by that point and was a really key player in the forwards for us. He didn’t play as many games in 2006 with him coming to the end of his career but he was still really impressive when he took to the field.
“There was a strong bond between the core of English players in the group too which was important. A lot of the players had been together for a few years already, so the likes of Honrny, Cookie, Yeamo, Dowsey, Gaz Raynor and Gaz Carvell all got on really well together. A few had played together for England too the previous year. ”
Washbrook makes great comparisons between the campaign of 2006, and that of the one a decade later in 2016, explaining: “I liken the season to 2016. Obviously we didn’t start that season great but once we got on that run, we just couldn’t stop winning and it became a habit.
“We were winning games too when we probably didn’t deserve it, and that’s the sign of a good team because it shows you know how to fight for victory even when everything is against you.”
Speaking of the games from the 13 match winning run that stick out in his memory in particular, Washbrook added: “The away victory at St Helens is one that sticks out for me. When Cookie knocks over that drop-goal, it put us in real contention as somebody to battle Saints for the title. It was a really key night for us.
“The Wigan game too was special. They weren’t going great at the time but I can’t ever remember another Hull side putting 50 points past Wigan.”
Meanwhile, Washbrook would end up making his full debut in an (at the time) very different environment, in the club’s first ever trip to the South of France to take on Catalans Dragons.
“It was Catalans’ first year in Super League, and I got my first start in our first ever trip there. We beat them at the Rugby Union ground and then went again later in the year too.
“But they were both great experiences, and something a bit different back in those days.”
Washbrook also looks back fondly on the emphatic Super League Semi-Final victory over Bradford which saw his side land their first ever Grand Final spot, explaining that the victory was one of his career highlights at the KCOM Stadium.
“It was a huge game for the club. We’d never been to a Grand Final before and we had a huge opportunity to do so.
“To be playing in such a huge game at such a young age was so special for me, especially in my breakthrough year.
“It is definitely up there with the highlights of my career at home.”
He continued: “I think the short turnaround to the Grand Final actually helps. We were back in training straight away after the semi-final and looking ahead to Old Trafford. With the cup, you have a long time for it to dwell on your mind.
“The final itself was such a special experience. I’d been to Old Trafford before to watch the Grand Final, to watch Great Britain and to see Manchester United as my dad supports them – its a huge stadium anyway but when you walk out onto the pitch, it feels even bigger.
“The sound of the crowd was absolutely deafening and you genuinely couldn’t hear the man next to you on the field.
“We stayed with Saints in the first-half, but ultimately I think their big game experience helped them push on in the second-half.
“Saints had half the Great Britain side in their side and were ultimately outstanding during them few years.”
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