Hull coach Lee Radford extends contract to 2019

The Black and Whites announced the news on the morning of their vital Super League clash with Catalans Dragons, where victory could see them replace the French side in second place.

Radford - a distinguished player with both Hull and Bradford during his career - took over as Hull coach from Peter Gentle ahead of the 2014 season and spent two campaigns moulding together a squad.

The fruits of that have been seen this season, which has comfortably been his best in charge as Hull look set to make the top four.

His new deal comes on the back of a number of contracts for some of the club's homegrown players and Radford said: "The timing of the announcement alongside the players who have signed up obviously shows the stability and the foundation of the club.

"It was an unbelievably easy decision for me. The support (owner) Adam Pearson has shown since day one has made my job so much easier.

"He has strengthened my drive to be successful with this club for the fans and for him personally as I know it means an awful lot to him.

"My mantra has always been to bring through homegrown kids for the first-team and surround them with international class players.

"That's starting to come to fruition and now we want to really push for some silverware."

Pearson - who has stood by Radford following some criticism of his coaching ability during the testing first years of his career - added: "I've worked with a lot of managers and head coaches in my 20 years in professional sport and never met an individual more committed to a club as Lee, who puts the club first before any personal interests.

"He was handed the complicated challenge three years ago to lead a complete root and branch overhaul of the club in difficult circumstances, which was always going to take some time and bring significant pressures on him.

"He has taken that challenge head on and handled it with great professionalism and the maturity of an experienced coach, whilst at no point safeguarding his own future or making public complaint on the scale of the task at hand."