Hull set to gain with the arrival of latest playmaker

Ever since Paul Cooke’s controversial departure to city rivals Hull KR in 2007, the Airlie Birds have been searching fruitlessly for someone to take command of their side.

Plenty have tried and failed, whether it be the luckless ex-Great Britain No 7 Sean Long or Australian capture Adam Dykes – both thwarted by injuries – or Chris Thorman, who simply struggled to recreate his best after arriving from Huddersfield Giants.

Matthew Head was another who came and went from the NRL, while Kangaroo utility Shaun Berrigan was also sporadically used as a half – but all to no avail.

Homegrown Tommy Lee was a less expensive solution to the problem, yet he too could not grasp the chance, while New Zealand Warriors signing Brett Seymour was the latest to stutter unconvincingly last year when even Ryan McGoldrick had a late, brief stab at solving the conundrum.

Throughout all those intervening years, Richard Horne has battled on manfully as one mainstay to keep Hull ticking over, but everyone knows the club cannot rely on his promptings alone to take the Black and Whites to the next level of genuinely challenging for silverware.

It was no surprise, then, that Hull openly tried to snare not one but two top-class halves for 2013. It illustrates the size of the job.

Castleford’s England international Rangi Chase and NRL star Scott Prince both ultimately escaped their grasp in very public chases, but stand-off Daniel Holdsworth was secured from Salford City Reds and, so, he alone is the latest charged with taking up the mantle.

Does this wretched misfortune for those before him leave him at all perturbed about his own chances of succeeding?

“It’s the first I’ve heard of that,” comes his amused response.

“So, no, not really. I want to play here and just make sure that happens.

“There’s pressure everywhere, no matter where you play, but I don’t really think about it.

“Personally, I just want to cement my spot in this Hull team, have a good year and be a leader for them.”

Hear, hear. And there is every indication the highly-rated goal-kicking Australian could, indeed, be the solution to the club’s age-old problem.

Holdsworth earned Exiles selection last summer after a series of commanding performances with Salford, a combination of his booming left boot, vast array of distribution skills and a more than useful turn of pace combining to cause Super League opponents all manner of problems, as well as England.

That night at Huddersfield, surrounded with the competition’s best overseas players, he clinically ripped apart Steve McNamara’s callow international side and gave the first suggestion that, with a higher calibre of team-mate than at Salford, he could be a mighty weapon.

Hull will certainly provide him with some bullets given they have captured the likes of England second-row Gareth Ellis, Hull KR great Ben Galea and young Castleford centre Joe Arundel to augment a squad already boasting elite performers such as Andy Lynch, Tom Briscoe, Kirk Yeaman and Danny Tickle.

Stand-off Holdsworth, 28, is relishing the opportunity to help lift them into the upper echelons after years of the East Yorkshire club being perennial under-achievers.

They showed flashes of brilliance last year only to ultimately prove too inconsistent, injuries highlighting the lack of depth in their squad.

Hull came in sixth, but owner Adam Pearson will be wanting more from his investment in 2013.

Perhaps Hull and their famously demanding fans are expecting too much in the season ahead which opens at champions Leeds in a fortnight.

Holdsworth, set for his second friendly appearance against Hull KR on Sunday, counters: “Every club and player wants to win trophies.

“It doesn’t matter if you say it or not, everyone still wants to do that. I just try to tick the boxes all week and make sure I do everything right to show up on the weekend and play the best I can.

“We’ve got a good club, a good team with good depth which is an improvement the coaches made sure of because of last year.

“We want to be up there competing. That’s the goal.

“We just want to get better as a club and as a team and improve on last year.

“They got off to a cracking start then, but got run down by injuries and stuff. It just drifted away.

“Hull is a big club, very professional and everyone here is very serious. They take things the way they should which is good.”

Of course, Holdsworth has seen the other side of that coin having been caught up in the financial strife that engulfed Salford during last season and sees them still unsure about their very future.

With two years remaining on his deal, he was offloaded in the autumn to help ease that burden.

It seems Salford’s loss could easily now be Hull’s gain.