JAKE Arthur conceded Liam Knight’s departure will leave a big hole at Hull FC, but was sympathetic to his reasons for returning home.
The forward, who joined the club last year, was released from his Black and Whites contract on compassionate grounds after three games of the 2026 Super League season to allow him to return to Australia.
Arthur was sad to see a player he knows from being under the same management company as him leave, but knows what it is like to be separated from family by thousands of miles after spending the past two years away from his father and Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad.
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“It’s tough to see him go, but we all understand where he is coming from,” Arthur, who joined Hull FC on a two-year deal from Newcastle Knights in the off-season, told BBC Radio Humberside.
“It’s tough for him to be here on his own with all his family back home.
“In terms of footy, it’s a big loss for us. He’s a great player, he gets through a lot of work and at the end of the day the person comes first.”
“He was really good to me. It helped having met him before and he’s real good at bringing the group together.”
As well as being helped to settle at Hull FC by Knight, Arthur spent several weeks back living with Brad after his arrival in the UK before moving to his new home in Beverley, eight miles north of Kingston upon Hull.
While the transition off the field has been good, though, things have not run so smoothly on it.
A hamstring injury suffered before Christmas disrupted Arthur’s pre-season preparations and recurred following a try-scoring debut in Hull FC’s 60-0 Challenge Cup third-round win over Salford.
That delayed the 23-year-old’s Super League bow until their Round 3 clash with York Knights, where the hosts were edged out 17-16 by the promoted side.
Halfback partner Aidan Sezer being forced off due to an eye injury in that game did not help matters either.
Yet Arthur believes he benefitted from having to take on the playmaking role as well as get used to working with fullback Davy Litten and Cade Cust on the fly.
“I definitely learnt a lot from that,” Arthur said ahead of Thursday’s Round 4 opener away to Wakefield Trinity. “That’s sort of a more natural role to what I’ve played in the past anyway.
“Just building the combinations on the run, the more reps I can get in with Davy at fullback and Custy in the halves, when Sez does go off then the better that will be.
“It was a bit of a mixed bag. I had some good moments, and then had some things I’d like back.
“But I competed real hard and I’ve just got to keep building the combinations with the blokes inside and out of me.”