Gareth Ellis reveals whether he wants the Hull FC job

The Black and Whites sacked long-serving Lee Radford last week, just before the sport shut down due to the coronavirus.

Assistant coaches Andy Last and Kieron Purtill have been put in caretaker charge and, considering their experience and the enforced lay-off until at least April 3, it would be no surprise if they were given an extended chance to show their own worth.

Moreover, with the immense uncertainty over the financial state of rugby league following the pandemic outbreak, finding a new head coach is certainly not going to be owner Adam Pearson’s main priority.

He was always planning to take his time over a new appointment and that viewpoint will only now be augmented.

With names such as Sydney Roosters’ assistant Craig Fitzgibbon – the former Australia loose forward who played for Hull in 2010 and 2011 – Salford Red Devils chief Ian Watson and London Broncos’ Danny Ward all being linked, there will be no shortage of interested parties.

But another that inevitably crops up is Ellis, the revered former Great Britain forward who has become such an icon for the Airlie Birds since joining from Wests Tigers at the end of 2012.

He is, of course, still playing for them having come out of retirement just over 12 months ago to ease an injury crisis and proved so influential he secured a new playing deal for 2020.

Ellis turns 39 in May and has yet to decide if he will carry on playing into his 40th year.

After initially retiring at the end of 2017, having captained Hull to back-to-back Challenge Cup glories, he became the club’s football manager.

Nevertheless, Ellis reverted back to a more hands-on role ahead of the 2019 campaign when he started helping coaching the first team and also took charge of the Reserve Grade side.

That was his role until answering that SOS last year so the obvious question is would he be interested if offered the head coach position in 2021?

“No. I’m not ruling it out in the future as you don’t know what’s going to happen,” former Leeds Rhinos second-row Ellis told The Yorkshire Post.

“But I think there’s almost an apprenticeship to be done. I do like the idea of coaching but to be head coach is another level.

“It’s a proper all-consuming job. It’s not just about putting a plan together for the day and getting through it. There’s a lot to think about.

“Aside from being a coach and planning your sessions, there’s one of you and probably another 30 lads who also expect to be coached, expect to be treated in the same way, all expected to be asked how are you doing, how your wife is and that’s every day.

“If you deviate from that by perhaps paying a bit more attention to someone, or you forget one day, you might think you’ve said it to 20 blokes.

“But the other 10 you’ve forgotten about will be the 10 thinking ‘well, he hasn’t spoken to me today’.

“There is a lot of detail that goes into being a head coach; the management side of the game is really important and probably undervalued.

“It is something that sets apart the good coaches from the world-class coaches.

“When I speak to players about who’s the best coach they’ve ever had, it’s not usually someone who they say they learned loads from but someone they say really cared about them; that had interest in them as people and not just the commodity we often are.”

Hull’s players are training from home this week but will return on Monday when Last and Purtill will look to start putting their own plans in place.

Castleford-born Ellis added: “I think those two could potentially do a very good job.

“They deserve a chance and we’re in good hands whether it is for the rest of the season or beyond. Only time will tell.

“But as players we also have to take some responsibility for what happens from here.”

He concedes he is still unsure about his own career path.

“When I was asked to come out of retirement, I was coaching the reserves and bits with the first team, and I was just finding my feet with it,” he added.

“I’d had a few months and I’d just started to find my little niche in the set-up. That’s what made it quite a difficult decision; by knowing I was stepping back into playing, I was giving that up having taken almost 18 months to find myself in a role where I felt valued and was adding value to the players.

“Personally, it’s just about playing as well as I can for now and enjoying my rugby. After that, I’m undecided on what’ll happen.”