Josh Griffin has become the latest player to sign a new contract as Hull FC continue their retention drive.
The centre has signed a two-year extension, committing his future to the club until the end of the 2021 season.
Griffin has had a nomadic career so far, appearing in Super League for Wakefield, Huddersfield, Castleford and Salford before his move to the KCOM Stadium for the 2017 season.
The 28-year-old appears to have found his home in East Yorkshire, with he and the club both keen to extend his contract despite having more than a year left to run.
“I’m massively pleased to get the deal done,” he said. “Being out of contract at the end of next year, it’s not something that I was necessarily expecting but the club have approached me and I’m happy to sign.
“It’s nice to see the club show faith in me and that they want to keep me here on a long-term basis. We’re building a good culture here, and that can be seen by all the players who are extending their contracts.
“We’re a close-knit group, and for everyone to be sticking around together is massive for what we’re aiming to achieve.”
Griffin has been out of action since suffering a PCL injury in the derby victory over Hull KR at Magic Weekend, and he said that he is keen to be back on the field soon.
“It’s been tough sat on the sidelines, especially knowing the whole squad has been struggling for numbers in the last few months.
“But I worked really at the start of this year on trying to find some good form, and hopefully I can do that again when i get back out there.”
He becomes the latest player to sign an extended contract with the Black and Whites, with Jake Connor, Mark Minichiello and Sika Manu all signing new deals in the last fortnight.
Coach Lee Radford believes that the low player turnover has been a factor in the club’s recent success.
“It’s important to us to keep our turnover of players low,” he said. “We made the decision that we want to retain instead of recruit, because we’re really happy with the team we have at the moment.
“I’m pretty sure when we get our best seventeen players on the field, which Josh is one of, we’re as good as anyone in the competition.”
Radford also revealed that there had been interest in Griffin from other clubs as a result of his good form in Super League this season.
“Interest from other clubs is what kick started the talks, so we wanted to show how much faith and trust we have in him to make sure he knew he’s a big part of what we want to achieve moving forward.
“He was our most consistent performer before he got injured, so I hope he can hit the ground running again when he returns.”
