The Story Of 2023…
Hull KR didn’t actually win anything last year. They haven’t won a top tier competition since the 1986 Yorkshire Cup. Yet there was a scenario in which three more wins in 2023 could have brought them a Super League and Challenge Cup double.
Rovers fell one step short of Old Trafford, losing in the semi-final to Wigan. They were well beaten 42-12 in the end. They’d saved their most disappointing performance of the season for last. Yet if you’d offered any Robins fan a Super League semi-final at the start of the season you would have had to move your hand away quickly to avoid having it bitten off.
Expectations were outstripped in the Challenge Cup also. After victories over Batley (50-0), Salford (28-10) and Wigan (11-10) Willie Peters’ side found themselves in the Challenge Cup final which had returned to Wembley after a season at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. There they faced equally unlikely finalists, newly promoted Leigh Leopards who had overcome champions St Helens in their semi-final and beaten Wakefield and York in earlier rounds. It ended in heartbreak for Peters’ men who were beaten 17-16 thanks to Lachlan Lam’s extra-time, golden point drop-goal.
The league campaign had started brilliantly as Wigan were downed 27-18 at Sewell Group Craven Park. Yet a four-game losing streak followed as all of Salford, Leigh, Warrington and Catalans handed Rovers defeats. Their second league win of the year - a 34-6 success at Wakefield - came 34 days after that first one at home to the Warriors.
Rovers were nothing if not streaky. After that miserable month of March they rattled off six league wins in a row. Among them was a 40-0 derby victory over FC on Good Friday and a 26-14 win over Saints a week later. Guess what happened next? Four defeats. You get the picture, but for the record Warrington, Wigan, Salford and Catalans all got the better of Rovers before the rot was stopped with a 28-12 win over Wakefield in late June.
Defeats to Saints and Wigan followed, the latter by a 64-6 scoreline a week before the Wembley final. Yet the schizophrenic Robins ended the season with five wins in a row to get into the playoffs in fourth place with 16 wins and 11 defeats during the regular season. They cleared one knockout hurdle when they gained a mini revenge on Leigh with a 20-6 triumph, before running into a Wigan side powered by a Liam Marshall har-trick and a Jai Field double. While there was no silver, it had still been an outstanding 2023 for Peters’ men.
The 2024 Recruits
Things might have worked out differently for Rovers if Oliver Gildart’s try for Leigh in the last game of the regular season had not been disallowed for obstruction. It could have taken the League Leaders’ Shield away from Matty Peet’s side which would have altered the playoff match-ups and then who knows? Gildart couldn’t quite help Rovers then, but he will look to do so in 2024 now that his loan spell with the Leopards has come to an end. The ex-Wigan centre will look to reestablish himself among Super League’s top centres after a year in the NRL saw him make just eight appearances for Wests Tigers and a couple more on loan with Sydney Roosters.
Peta Hiku is another centre with both NRL and Super League experience. He has bounced around the Australian competition, turning out for all of Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, New Zealand Warriors and North Queensland Cowboys before an 11-match stint at Warrington yielded an impressive 10 tries. Hiku is 31 now but should still have plenty to offer the Rovers back line over the three years of his contract.
As we will see later there have been some pretty key departures in the KR halves so it’s handy that Peters has managed to bring in Tyrone May from Catalans Dragons. May played in the Dragons’ Grand Final defeat by Wigan and also in Penrith’s triumphant NRL Grand Final victory over South Sydney in 2021. May featured 45 times across two seasons in France and has agreed a two-year contract with Rovers. A fine player in his own right, his Grand Final experience could prove vital to a side which so far has fallen short in the very biggest games.
Up front former Gold Coast Titans prop Jai Whitbread has been one of few shining lights over a difficult couple of years for Wakefield which saw them relegated to the Championship at the end of the last campaign. Joining him will be his former Trinity team-mate Kelepi Tanginoa who has been with the West Yorkshire club for five seasons. A versatile, impactful forward, Tanginoa has also made NRL appearances for Parramatta Eels, North Queensland Cowboys and Manly Sea Eagles. The pair should add quality and experience to a front row which also includes ex-Canterbury Bulldog and Newcastle Knight Sauaso Sue, George King and Sam Luckley.
All of those signings look to have a fair chance of success but there may be an element of risk with others. Niall Evalds is a fine fullback when at his best. But having been a regular for Salford and playing in their 2019 Grand Final and 2020 Challenge Cup final losses he took to the field just 37 times in three seasons at Castleford. He managed only seven appearances last term. Now 30, there has to be a doubt over whether the KR fans will see him at his best.
It’s never a guarantee that prominent Championship players will make it in the top flight but Peters has taken a chance on a couple. Ajahni (AJ) Wallace is a Jamaican international back rower who arrives from Bradford Bulls. At only 20 years of age he has time on his side but as we sit here today the former England youth international has only two professional seasons and 42 games under his belt with the Bulls. His impact may not be immediate.
Hooker Reiss Butterworth did appear twice for Huddersfield Giants where he spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons but has mostly been a Championship fixture. He began at Bradford before loan spells with Batley and York led to a move to Dewsbury where he has spent the last three seasons. At 25, he now has the opportunity to make an impression at the highest level domestically.
The final Rovers recruit was an unexpected one which could turn out to be a massive bonus for Peters’ side. Joe Burgess played in two Grand Finals and a Challenge Cup final for Wigan. He lost the lot, but we’ll gloss over that and instead remind you that he bagged a ridiculous 52 tries in 55 matches in his first spell with the Warriors before another 51 tries in 71 games in his second. He is joint 44th on the all-time list of Super League try scorers having also scored 23 in 47 appearances for Salford since 2021.
Which is why his exit from the Red Devils and his availability for Rovers was so surprising. Salford released Burgess, stating that his conduct was not consistent with the club’s standards. They neglected to elaborate. But if Burgess can behave in accordance with Rovers’ standards then they will have bagged themselves one of the fastest wingers on either side of the world and a prolific try scorer.
So Who’s Out…?
Those of you paying full attention will remember that I mentioned that there have been halfback departures in the offseason. Perhaps the most troubling of these from a Robins point of view is the loan deal which will see Jordan Abdull turn out for Catalans Dragons in 2024.
Abdull was blossoming into one of the league’s best game managers, possessing an incredible kicking game. However, injury restricted him to only 14 games in 2023 during which he never really produced his absolute best. Hampered by a torn quad muscle for much of the year he did feature towards the back end of the campaign and played in that semi-final defeat to Wigan. Yet it seems clear that Peters has some doubts over him at the moment,
Also leaving is 24 year-old Rowan Milnes who heads to Castleford. Millnes often found it difficult to break into the Rovers first team ahead of Abdull, Mikey Lewis and Brad Schneider and would have had no guarantees of cracking the code this year with May now around. Schneider was the very definition of hit and miss for KR last season but apparently did enough to persuade three-in-a-row NRL champions Penrith Panthers to offer him a deal. Only three in a row? Pah! Pathetic.
The availability of Burgess is particularly handy for Peters having seen Ethan Ryan join Salford Red Devils, while the back division has also lost Sam Wood who follows Milne to the Tigers. Fullback Jack Walker - once the next big thing at Leeds - has crossed the city of Hull to join FC after only one season and 10 appearances for Rovers. Veteran Jimmy Keinhorst will be part of York Knights’ Championship effort but by far and away the biggest loss from the three-quarter line will be that of Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
The former Sydney Roosters centre is a shining example of the good things that can happen if you find yourself an NRL star who still has hunger and desire and a healthy respect for the northern hemisphere competition. He has been outstanding for KR through four seasons and 93 appearances. Alongside another retiree - back rower Kane Linnett - Kenny-Dowall has been instrumental in changing the culture at the club. Though they haven’t quite taken that final step and picked up any silverware, they now at least conceive that it is possible. It hasn’t really felt like that for Robins fans since the 80s.
As well as Linnett the pack will be shorn of the services of front rower Rhys Kennedy who has joined London Broncos for what looks certain to be their only top flight campaign for the foreseeable future. A former Brisbane Bronco, Kennedy made 26 appearances in his only season with Rovers. Yet together with Linnett that’s over 230 games worth of NRL experience that has walked through the exit door. Those left behind will have to step up.
Former Saint Greg Richards is not among them. He endured a difficult two season stay on Humberside in which he managed only 15 appearances for the Robins. He had a dual registration spell at Dewsbury and went on loan to Toulouse. Now 28, the man who made 70 appearances for Saints between 2013-17 has signed permanently for the French Championship side as they continue to reload following their 2022 relegation from Super League.
There is one other notable departure as second rower Luis Johnson was released after three seasons. The former Warrington man has been picked up by Castleford Tigers.
What’s The Expectation?
Possibly higher than at any time since the 1980s. If you can get to a Challenge Cup final and you can get within 80 minutes of a Super League Grand Final then why can’t you take that extra step or two? Well…let’s look at Salford. They made the Grand Final in 2019 and although they reached Wembley in 2020 they could only finish ninth in the league standings that year.
All of Jake Bibby, Jackson Hastings, George Griffin, Derrell Olpherts and Josh Jones moved on from the Red Devils after the 2019 season and the likes of Kevin Brown, Pauli Pauli, Chris Atkin and James Greenwood came in. It is clear that the Salford 2020 squad was a very different one from that of a year previously. That would be the concern for Rovers fans with 13 players leaving ahead of 2024 and nine new faces arriving. Peters will need to get them to gel to repeat let alone better the feats of a year ago.
The start to the season is a headline maker with a visit to FC in the Hull derby in round one on February 15. Rovers then welcome Leeds, Warrington and FC (again) in their first three home games. A stretch between April 20 and May 4 will really test Peters’ side as they visit the Dragons and host both Wigan and St Helens in that period.
The run-in also features the champions and the winners of the previous four titles as KR visit Saints on August 23 and Wigan on September 6. Home games against Salford and Leigh could be crucial to their playoff hopes before they are visited by the Rhinos on the final weekend.
What Will Really Happen?
Peters will have every faith that he can get another tune out of this side. After all their semi-final loss to Wigan was the last act of a season in which they had improved on an eighth placed finish in 2022. The former Gateshead and Wigan halfback seems a very progressive coach. If anyone can restore the glory days to the club it might well be him.
A huge amount seems to rest on how well Lewis and May can hit it off. There is little depth behind them with Abdull, Schneider and Millnes all gone. Kenny-Dowall and Linnett’s influence will also be missed. Hiku was a regular in the NRL last year and together with Gildart could provide excitement in the back-line.
Rovers should be challenging for the playoffs again and they may well get in. I’m just not sure they’ve made the right moves to repeat last year’s heroics especially considering that the likes of Leeds and Warrington just have to improve. Don’t they? If not then perhaps the sky is the limit for Rovers. But if those clubs and even the other lot across Hull start playing in a manner which befits their standing in the game then life will be more difficult. The top six might be as good as it gets this time around.
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