10 THINGS I LIKED ABOUT HULL KINGSTON ROVERS IN 2015

Rather than write a normal bog standard review of Hull Kingston Rover’s 2015 season, I thought I would pick out my selected highlights and lowlights and send them out into the ether to see what other people think.

So, let’s start with the positives (these are in no particular order)

HOME FORM

Campo and Alby

Every coach want’s to turn their home ground into a ‘fortress’ and make opposing teams fear coming to their home turf.

Hull KR did that extremely well in 2015.

Our home form was very good throughout the year and we played an exciting style of rugby league in front of our own supporters and beat the majority of our opponents.

Only Leeds Rhinos on the opening day of the season, although it was a brilliant performance with so many new players in the team, Castleford Tigers, who we really struggle against at the moment, and our local rivals Hull FC went away happy from the KC Lightstream Stadium in 2015.

We won 8 out of 11 home games in Super League and 13 out of 16 in all competitions including the Challenge Cup and Middle 8’s.

There were some top displays and exciting games at the KC Lightstream Stadium in 2015 – the early season come back to beat Wigan Warriors, the seventh consecutive home win over St. Helens, the brilliant comeback to hammer Catalans Dragons, the Easter Monday win over Huddersfield Giants, the mauling of Warrington Wolves, the brilliant late try straight from the kick off from Albert Kelly to put the Salford City Reds home game to bed after we had nearly thrown it away.

It was certainly an improvement on 2014’s home form when we won only 5 and drew 1 of 13 home games.

STYLE OF RUGBY

I must be honest and say that I have not enjoyed watching Rovers play as much as I did in 2015 for a long time – certainly at home anyway.

Even in defeat, which was rare at home, we always attempted to play some exciting rugby league. It didn’t always come off but the intent was there.

With quality attacking players in the side such as Terry Campese, the unpredictable but at times unplayable Albert Kelly, the pace and dancing feet of Kieran Dixon, the powerhouse wingers Ken Sio and Josh Mantellato and the resurgent Kris Welham all gelling quickly there was never going to be a struggle scoring tries.

We put in some really exciting displays and I only hope that we continue to play with style and panache in 2016.

PLAYER RECRUITMENT

Josh Mantellato - one of a host of successful signings

I could have quite easily filled my 10 likes list from the players that we recruited for the 2015 season such was the success of many of our signings.

There was huge player turnover between the end of 2014 and the start of the 2015 season and whilst it would be easy to use that as an excuse for not making the play off’s (see the above for the real reason) the fact is that the vast majority of the new players settled in brilliantly and played superbly.

Questions were raised at the start of the year about the potential for injury to both Terry Campese and Albert Kelly and those questions received the answers we didn’t want. Campo, after a brilliant opening few months to the season, went down with a bad knee injury at home to Castleford Tigers in June and was ruled out for the season – a massive loss.

Albert Kelly filled Campos boots brilliantly and played out of his skin – who was the last player that excited us Hull KR fans as much as Alby??  

Unfortunately he also injured a knee in the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat of Warrington Wolves and only made one more appearance during the year – the ill-fated Final.

Of the other new signings Josh Mantellato, Ken Sio, Kieran Dixon, Tyrone McCarthy, Maurice Blair, Shaun Lunt and James Donaldson all stood out and I cannot leave this without mentioning hooker John Boudebza who came in from France under the radar but put in some mighty displays to earn a contract extension.  

JAMIE PEACOCK

Jamie Peacock at his new home.

The news that we had recruited Jamie Peacock as our Head of Rugby from 2015 came out on the night of our home win against St. Helens and provided a real feel good factor around the night.

Peacock had made it clear that 2015 was to be his last season as a player after a stellar career and that he wanted to move into an administrative role within the sport rather than coaching.

It was always assumed that he would remain at the Rhinos and, whilst Chief Executive Gary Hetherington did offer him a position at the club, Peacock decided to move out of his comfort zone and see if he could take what he had learnt from behind the scenes at the Rhinos and studying for his Master’s Degree in Sports Management successfully into a new environment.

This was a great piece of work by Hull KR Chairman Neil Hudgell and came completely out of the blue.

Peacock is one of the most respected players and voices within British Rugby League, wears his heart on his sleeve and usually delivers on his promises.

I am sure he will have a massive impact at Hull KR and it will be interesting to see what changes he brings in.

‘EASTER THURSDAY’ AT THE KC STADIUM

To win at the home of your nearest rivals is always special and to be fair it is not unusual for us to win at the KC Stadium or beat Hull FC but we had a point to prove after our woeful 2014 performance at the KC which we lost 28-0 – a truly desperate performance that led for me to call for the head of Chris Chester.

This was a completely new Hull KR team with so many players playing a Hull Derby for the first time and they put in a brilliant performance.

We led 18-6 at half time thanks to converted tries from Skipper Terry Campese, Kieran Dixon and Shaun Lunt.

There were no tries scored in the second half as we closed out a very comfortable 20-6 win but what made the night memorable was the performance of the aforementioned Campese.

Maybe I am biased, but I fully recall being enthralled by Campo’s performance – he controlled every aspect of our attacking play and the FC defence could not lay a hand on him all night.

I tweeted at the time that it was the best half back performance I had seen for the 30 years in a Hull KR shirt and I won’t go back on that now – my eldest boy want’s to be a half back and I just told to him watch that performance over and over again take and it as a wonderful example of how to play as a half back.

Campo prompted the Hull KR attack in every set and his players listened and followed everything he did – already they had complete trust in his leadership – and we were unlucky not to win by a much more comfortable margin

So, whilst it is not unusual for us to win at the KC – it is Campos performance that will live long in my memory.

CAMPO SIGNS A CONTRACT EXTENSION.

Terry Campese was rumoured to be on the radar of both Hull FC and Salford Red Devils after he had been released by his one and only NRL club, Canberra Raiders, at the end of 2014. Campo had spent 10 years at the Raiders, had been the captain for the last 3 years and earned a single cap for both New South Wales and Australia.

He had also spent a lot of time out of action due to horrific knee and groin injuries and it was this that was the major concern for the majority of Hull KR fans.

However, Campo started off his career in Super League like a house on fire and even before his debut, Head Coach Chris Chester had recognised his leadership skills and quickly made him club captain – it was both an easy and an inspired decision.

Campo is one of the most skilful players I have ever seen – he is not the quickest or the strongest – but when he is on form no one can touch him and he quickly became a much admired figure amongst both his fellow players and the fans – it help’s also that he is a charismatic and friendly figure and he took the Hull KR cause quickly to his heart and recognised the passion and desire of Hull KR fans.

It became clear that he was thoroughly enjoying his time in the UK and Rovers moved swiftly to extend his initial 12 month contract by another 2 years with an option for a third.

It was a brilliant boost for the club but that was all destroyed when Campo suffered a season ending knee injury in an innocuous challenge at home to Castleford Tigers in June.

I’m hoping that Campo can comeback in the new season refreshed and stronger and not mentally scarred by another serious injury – he has the ability to help Hull KR challenge for top 6 spot in 2106.

CHALLENGE CUP RUN
29 years of waiting and most of us probably wish we hadn’t turned up at Wembley on August 29^th.

But what excitement there was in the run to the Challenge Cup Final.

The first hurdle was tough enough, away at one of last years relegated Super League clubs – Bradford Bulls.

They certainly made us work hard and it wasn’t until the last 10-15 minutes that we ran away with the game to claim a 50-30 victory. Josh Mantellato inspired us with a 30 point haul of 4 tries and 7 goals.

The draw for the next round could not have been much worse – Wigan Warriors away!!! We all know how much Wigan love the Cup and Shaun Wane was adamant that they were determined to win it again and, two weeks before the cup tie, we went to Wigan and gave a totally inept display losing 60-0 in Super League – it was a disgraceful performance and was live on Sky – hello ridicule from Hull FC fans and Steve etc etc etc.

Anyway, that was our Challenge Cup dreams gone for another year wasn’t it? Obviously, it wasn’t – the Cup tie two weeks later was changed to the Leigh Sports Village and we had Terry Campese back – he missed the Super League game – and back in May Campo was in full flow and marshalled and ran the team superbly.

The boys also showed they had some balls to come back from a humiliating defeat and knock out Wigan on their ‘home’ ground just 2 weeks later – it was live on Sky as well – brilliant.

Then came Catalans Dragons at home – we had trounced them earlier in the season at the KC Lightstream and I was fully confident we would do it again, especially as we had put a couple of wins together, at home against Widnes and Warrington, after losing 3 games on the back of the Cup win at Wigan.

We ripped them apart in the first half and played some brilliant rugby league – Sio’s try direct from a scrum was a belter – but they made us bite our nails as we allowed the Dragons back into it in the second half but we ended up hanging on for a brilliant 32-26 win to put us into our first semi-final since 2006.

‘A LITTLE RESPECT’ – THE CHALLENGE CUP SEMI FINAL

Ken Sio scores in semi final.

The Challenge Cup semi-final defeat of Warrington Wolves was, quite simply, the day, the match and the performance of the year and included the try of the season.

From arriving home at 4 a.m. in the morning from a holiday in Turkey to travelling back home to Hull later that night celebrating qualifying for our first Challenge cup semi-final for 29 years, this day was just perfect.

To bump into a lot of people I know, to be a part of the brilliant Red and White travelling army, to witness a stunning and unexpected victory (we went into the match on the back of 4 successive defeats and a hammering at Saints the weekend before) including THAT try from Kenny Sio, to sing ‘A Little Respect’ at the end in the pouring rain, to hug and thank some of the players and to be able to share it with two of my boys made it the most wonderful and memorable day I have had as a Hull KR supporter for many many years.

Andy Bell, the lead singer of Erasure, saw a YouTube video of Rovers fans singing the song and went on line to wish us all the best in Final and the team even recorded the song and released as a single with the proceeds going to charity.

My 6 year old boy, a mad keen Rovers fan, still plays the video on YouTube now and every time I see Kenny’s try I get goose bumps.

MIDDLE 8’s FORM

Hull KR’s minimum aim at the start of each season must be to make the top 8 of Super League. For the second year in a row we failed to do that and it was disappointing – especially as a top 8 finish would have guaranteed our Super League place for 2016 and we would not have had to take part in the Middle 8’s.

Having said that, I think it was a lot more fun playing 7 games that meant something in the Middle 8’s rather than having to play 7 morale sapping ‘friendlies’ with no chance of making the semi-finals if we had edged a top 8 finish. Ask FC fans – was there end of season play off campaign much fun for them?

The fact that we won all 7 of our games to top the Middle 8’s and came through some tough encounters – Leigh and Widnes away and Wakefield at home the week after the Challenge Cup Final in particular – showed that there was some guts and determination in the team.

Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather finish in the top 8 – but it is even clearer now than it was before that you must be within 2 or 3 points of the top 4 at the end of 23 rounds to give yourself any chance of breaking into the top 4 after 30 rounds – the likes of FC, Warrington and Catalans were virtually playing for places in 2016 rather than a chance to make the semi-finals.

THE DESIGN OF THE ‘CLASSIC’ KIT FOR 2016.

The 'classic' 2016 home strip.

I have to say that I love both of the new kits for 2016 – but more than anything it is nice to get back to ‘classic’ home shirt of all white with a red band.

It looks really smart and my kids have demanded they get one for Christmas.

I am sure it will be very popular with the supporters as will the away kit of dark blue with 10 gold bands signifying our 10^th season in Super League.

My only gripe is with the rest of the merchandise from kit manufacturers FITA – but I’ll leave that until another time.

 

Not everything was rosy in the Hull KR garden in 2015 and next time I’ll run through the things I DIDN’T like about my team in 2015.