Bygones: Paul Cooke breaks silence over switch to Hull KR and Hull FC's 2006 Grand Final dispute

However, that is exactly what happened ahead of Hull FC’s first – and still only – appearance in Super League’s Old Trafford end-game 10 years ago.

Just what occurred in 2006 is detailed first-hand by Paul Cooke in his engrossing autobiography Judas? released last week.

A year earlier, the enigmatic stand-off had scored the match-winning try in Hull’s Challenge Cup final victory over Leeds Rhinos but, only a few months after this night in Manchester, he joined fierce rivals Hull KR in one of the most controversial transfers in rugby league history.

Cooke, one of the most gifted but frustrating players of his generation, has always polarised opinion.

However, the revelations in Judas? – he was gagged legally by FC for six years regarding the real reason behind his departure from Hull and implored by his mum on her death-bed in 2011 to eventually write this book – have begun to see some of his critics understandably soften their stance.

It emerged Cooke’s fall-out stemmed from the club failing to adhere to their promise, when agreeing a new contract in 2005, of a testimonial season in 2008.

The bizarre breakdown in communications is a fascinating chain of events which makes riveting reading especially as most Hull fans felt the player – who, remarkably, never actually signed his original contract so was able to quit – simply left for more money and because he wanted to play for the club he supported as a boy.

Cooke maintains he would have stayed if Hull had simply agreed to fulfil their original pledge yet they would not even agree to a meeting with him, allowing Rovers to seize their chance.

However, just as intriguing are the events leading up to that Grand Final against St Helens on October 14, 2006.

Clubs received prize money from the RFL for where they finished the regular season and, given Hull came second behind Saints, it was a sizeable sum.

It was always the case that the players would receive bonuses from that sum, with each player’s cheque dependent on the number of games he had played.

However, days before this Grand Final, Hull’s squad inadvertently discovered their bonuses would be far less than the St Helens squad which prompted a series of questions.

It emerged FC’s powers-that-be had, without making clear to their squad, decided to use it to help fund bonuses for other departments within the club, too.

That, understandably, left Cooke and his colleagues furious and, just two days before what would be the biggest game of some of their lives, they demanded chief executive David Plummer face them for a meeting.

His answers did not satisfy most of the Hull squad and, in his disgust, Cooke left the ground and missed the Grand Final media day.

“I never imagined they’d ever do that; I didn’t see it coming,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“Something I left out of the book, too – it was Lee Radford who reminded me later as I’d forgotten – was that we’d asked the club for more than one meeting.

“It was only when we said we’d all refuse to go to that media day that they came to see us so we had tried to get it fixed before.

“It was not ideal ahead of such a massive game. (Assistant coach) Rich Agar was quite strong in the book saying I should have wound my neck in and some of the senior players should have told me.

“But, we’d had a meeting between us beforehand – just players – when we were all ready to do that and then some people went quiet when it came to dealing with the club hierarchy.

“I can’t believe something like that can happen and it isn’t great two days before a Grand Final.

“It’d have been quite a few quid for a lot of players, especially the younger ones who were on contracts that were quite minimal.

“We never threatened to strike or anything. There was never any of that.

“We just wanted it explained to us why, ahead of its biggest pay-day, the club decided to change its scheme.

“The higher up the league you came and with more points, the more prize money went to the club. That was always shared out between players and we’d just finished second so it was a lot of money yet suddenly their scheme was changing. It stank.”

After all the pre-match furore, Hull, seeking to win the league for the first time since 1983, eventually lost 26-4 although the game was not as one-sided as the scoreline suggested.

Cooke recalled: “Saints were too good on the day. But I actually think we played okay.

“I watched it back with (ghost-writer) Adrian (Durham) for the first time when writing the book, nine-and-a-half years on.

“We made some line breaks, were unlucky early on when Gareth Raynor ended up in touch and then we got done for crossing on play zero after a penalty.

“In possession, running behind your own player like that? As a coach now, I know why they call that a coach-killer, but it was magnified by them going down the other end scoring six points through Leon (Pryce).

“We were just 6-4 down, then suddenly it was 10-4. At the start of the second half, they quickly scored twice and then we’re quickly behind the eight ball.

“Saints were a great side. They won the treble that year and are probably the best side seen in Super League. But it was still disappointing.”

Wigan beat Warrington in Saturday’s Grand Final after Hull – leaders for so much of the season – missed out on a first Old Trafford appearance since 2006 following a semi-final defeat at the Warriors.

Of course, Hull did win the Challenge Cup this season for the first time since Cooke’s late try in Cardiff but, most crucially, the first time at Wembley.

However, there is still a lingering feeling they should have done more, having also missed out on the League Leaders’ Shield to Warrington in the final round of Super 8s, one of four losses in five games since success in London.

Cooke, assistant coach at promoted Leigh, said: “As far as Hull FC are concerned, there’ll be some lessons learned.

“I think it’s a time for reflection for the staff who will be interested to see where it went wrong after Wembley and how they go about fixing it in the years to come.

“But fans should really enjoy this season for now – they won at Wembley at last, finished in the top four and came within 80 minutes of both the League Leaders’ Shield and Grand Final.

“They have a group of knowledgeable, passionate coaches who have been together three years now so leave it to the coaching staff to work it out.”