The new Hull FC recruit is finding his feet and determined to kick on under Andy Last.
05:00, 01 May 2026Updated 07:02, 01 May 2026
Hull FC celebrate their win at Castleford.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Put the old adage to Hull FC back rower Connor Bailey and he’ll agree right away.
Brought to the club by CEO Richie Myler after a brief spell playing together at York Knights last year, Bailey is getting to grips with Super League in the Black and White.
Getting better by the week, the 25-year-old scored his first try for the club in last Friday’s 50-10 win at Castleford and, more importantly, feels at home playing full-time rugby league once again.
Coming through the ranks at Wakefield Trinity, Bailey played part-time while at York and, before that, Newcastle Thunder, while working in the family business, a fencing company. It was tough work, but now it’s solely rugby league on Bailey’s mind – and he’s looking to make it count.
“I’d say I’m starting to find my feet now,” Bailey, speaking to Hull Live, said. “I think the first couple of games I was probably just a little bit off, but now I’ve started to get a few games back to back; I’ve definitely grown in confidence and I’m starting to enjoy it.
“It’s been good. I probably didn’t expect to play as early on as I did. Obviously, injuries have happened, and for me now, I just want to take my opportunity, keep playing well, and get better. The more and more I keep playing, the more and more confidence I’m getting each week.
“Obviously, it takes some time getting up to speed of playing Super League, but I think I’m slowly getting there now and I’m slowly getting used to it and I’m grateful to be on that field every week.”
Debuting in the Challenge Cup at Salford, Bailey was straight into round two action at Wigan and hasn’t looked back. He’s played every game since, knocking out 10 appearances so far and starting to get his praises sung in the stands.
“It’s always nice to hear,” Bailey said on that support. “I try not to read much of it, but obviously you hear a few things here and there, and yeah, it’s nice – it’s a little confidence boost, but for me, I’m just grateful to be on that field every week and playing.
“I knew it was going to be tough (going from the Championship to Super League) but it was something I was really looking forward to. The big thing is probably the speed of the game, but I think that’s the same for everybody with the new rule changes.
“But you’re playing against better opposition every week and better players, and you’ve got to be switched on. In the Championship, you could probably get away with maybe having a play or two off, whereas now you can’t get away with it.
“I’m loving it, though, playing every week and being back full-time. It was tough to leave York, but sometimes you’ve got to be selfish. Moving to Hull and going back full time was the right thing for me.
“It’s a lot different, but it’s nice because you can just focus on rugby itself, whereas beforehand, I was having to think about getting up for work the next day, and then you have to switch your mindset into playing rugby on an evening, whereas now it’s nice just to be able to come to work, focus on rugby, and that’s it. There’s nothing else to worry about.”
Knuckling down, Bailey has been solid in Hull’s right-back row spot, who are now gunning for a top-six finish after a difficult start to the season and confident they can get there – and with Toulouse up next on Sunday afternoon, it’s attitude that remains key.
“I think we’ve been a bit harsh on ourselves,” Bailey said. “I know obviously we’ve not got a lot of the results but we’re not actually that far off. We’re not in a bad spot at all – we just need to put some good performances together now.
“It’s all about attitude. I don’t think we’re in a position to be taking teams lightly. We’ve got to turn up to every game now with the right attitude. Lasty’s been driving that really hard. We had a tough session today (Thursday), and we probably needed it, so hopefully that’ll set us up in good stead for Sunday.
“We played last week at Cas and then we came in and reviewed it on Monday. It was a tough review. It was a good win, but it was still a tough and honest review. We’ve trained really well this week. We just need to keep each other accountable if we want to get better, and Lasty has been driving that really hard.”
In the interim head coach hot seat once again, Last got the perfect start against Castleford, and now the challenge is to kick on against Toulouse with a group fully behind him and ready to go.
“He’s been class, he’s not been much different, to be honest with you,” Bailey said. “It’s a change of face, but he’s been really good. Everyone’s got a lot of respect for Lasty. He’s so passionate about the team and the club, so everyone’s obviously going to play for him.
“He’s a die hard fan. We all know that, he likes to remind us every day that he’s a die hard Hull fan, but that makes you want to play for him more. We’ve got a coach that’s so passionate about the club, and you don’t want to let him down on a weekend.”