Hull FC's Talanoa '˜will finish playing here in the Super League'

The Tonga international has been a big fans’ favourite at the East Yorkshire club since making the move from Australia in 2014.

Ex-South Sydney star Talanoa, 30, signed a new deal in June, which means he will extend his stay into 2019 and a sixth season with head coach Lee Radford’s side.

However, ahead of tomorrow’s Super 8s opener against Wakefield Trinity, asked if he will eventually return to the NRL he told The Yorkshire Post: “No, no. I’m finishing my playing side of things over here in the Super League.

“And with Hull preferably.

“I’ll look to finish my rugby here and hopefully I can do it on a good note.

“I signed for just the one year, but I’d want to carry on further.

“I do enjoy it here. I like it here in Hull. It’s a good little town and there’s some nice people that I’ve met.

“I’ve met some good friends here and possibly there’s even a chance we’d stay after I finish playing.”

Talanoa, who scored in last year’s Challenge Cup final win at Wembley having also lifted the trophy in 2016, has played more than 100 games for the Airlie Birds, scoring 57 tries.

He missed much of this season due to injury, spending 10 weeks on the sidelines with an ankle issue before returning in the 72-10 loss at Wakefield last month.

But the Aucklander has still amassed a dozen tries in just 18 appearances and is looking to finish the campaign strongly.

“It’s good to finally be out there and playing again,” said Talanoa.

“It was a long stint on the sidelines and a tough period to get through.

“But I have done and now it’s just a matter of getting back out there and getting the form I was playing to before I was injured.

“It’s a new comp’ (Super 8s) and where we’re at on the ladder (sixth) things might not look like we have a chance of reaching the semis.

“But we’re taking it week by week, starting with Wakefield.

“It’s a big game for us after what they did to us in that fixture three weeks ago.

“It was a hard day to take. Not only just for the players, but also for our supporters and the club. It was embarrassing and it still hurts now just thinking about it.

“We get a chance to right some wrongs and hopefully repay them for how we felt after that day.

“We just need to improve and focus on us. We can use these seven games to finish off the season on a good note and build.

“We’ll try some new things and fix some other bits that we know we can do better in.”

Meanwhile, Talanoa hopes his former Souths team-mates, including England star Sam Burgess and Greg Inglis, can repeat their heroics of 2014 when they won a first Grand Final in 43 years.

Souths are currently top of the NRL and the player, who scored 40 tries in 95 games for the Rabbitohs between 2006 and 2013, commented: “It’s good to see them back in there and doing well.

“I watch them when I can and it looks like they’re playing some good rugby at the moment.

“I think they’ll go far in the finals if they can just keep this momentum up.

“It just seems like it’s going down like that year they had in 2014 and I do hope they do it again.

“There’s some good guys there and it’s a good club. I wish them all the best.”