Horne welcomes added competition

The former Great Britain stand-off – set to enjoy a testimonial against Hull KR on Sunday – is thriving ahead of the new Super League season.

Coach Richard Agar has overseen a major re-fit of the club's squad after missing out on the play-offs for the last two seasons and there is a feel-good factor embracing the KC Stadium.

New captain Sean Long is the biggest capture, from St Helens, while ex-Australian Test forwards Craig Fitzgibbon and Mark O'Meley have added real presence to their pack leaving Horne impressed.

"Sometimes change is good," he said. "We've had two bad years and I think the board and coaching staff thought it was time to mix things up.

"A fair few players have gone out and a lot of new ones have come in.

"It's like having a new squad, especially for us Hull lads as it's been more or less the same for four or five years now."

The likes of Paul King, Chris Thorman, Gareth Raynor, Jamie Thackray and Tommy Lee have all departed and Horne conceded the

shake-up was required after the 2006 Grand Finalists slumped to 12th last time out.

"We were just low in confidence," said the 27-year-old. "Any errors we made you could just see us drop and we couldn't really get it back. Change was probably needed, with some new insight and a bit of drive.

"Now there's a lot of competition for spots. It's probably the toughest it's been and it's probably going to bring the best out of everybody."

Horne is relishing the chance to form a new partnership with legendary scrum-half Long.

"He's been there and done it," he said.

"Longy knows what it takes to win games. He's very opinionated on what he wants and what he expects this year and that's what we like.

"Hopefully we can achieve his aspirations as well as all ours."