5 WEEKS THAT WILL DEFINE HULL KINGSTON ROVER’S 2015 SEASON

Leading into the Magic Weekend Hull Kingston Rovers lie 10^th in the Super League table – not great you might think – not after being in the top 5 after an Easter weekend double over Hull FC and Huddersfield Giants – the first time we have achieved an Easter double since returning to the top league in 2007.

It’s fair to say that Rovers form since that hard fought win over the Giants on Easter Monday has not been great – we have lost 4 of our 5 league games since that win to plunge down to 10^th place, but it should be pointed that those 4 losses were all away from home against teams pushing for top 6 places.

There is no doubt that Rovers away form this season has been disappointing though – a solitary win at fierce rivals Hull FC on Easter Thursday is our sole triumph away from the KC Lightstream Stadium in the Super League. 

It has not been the easiest run of fixtures and those 4 away defeats, at Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos all came at venues we tend to struggle and any points gained would probably have been seen as a bonus.  

The performances have been a mixed bag – we rolled over at Castleford and were totally embarrassed in the 60-0 defeat at Wigan although we should have won at Catalans and performed well against Leeds last Friday with a depleted side.

Rovers have shown they can win away from home though.

We won at former Super League rivals Bradford Bulls in the 5^th round of the Challenge Cup, although the 50-30 victory was a real struggle until the last 20 minutes and, of course, 2 weeks after the 60-0 hammering at the DW Stadium we took the Warriors on at the Leigh Sports Village in the Challenge Cup 6^th round and wiped the smirks off their faces with a brilliant 16-12 victory to advance to the quarters finals of the Cup and earn a home tie with Catalans Dragons,  a team we defeated 50-20 at home earlier in the season and who generally struggle away from home as much as we have in 2015.

In amongst that run of away games we have had only one home game since Easter Monday and we took Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to the cleaners winning 54-6.

So, heading in to the Magic Weekend we are not in the position we would like to be – but all is not doom and gloom, we are only 1 point from 8^th and 4 points from 5^th and have a game in hand on most teams above us.

We have played some fantastic rugby league this year spearheaded by our captain Terry Campese – a man who has become a talismanic figure in such a short space of time and he is backed up by the likes of Albert Kelly, Ken Sio, Kieran Dixon, a rejuvenated Kris Welham, Ben Cockayne and Josh Mantellato in the backs with Adam Walker, Shaun Lunt, James Green, Kevin Larroyer, James Donaldson, Graeme Horne and the unheralded Maurice Blair and John Boudebza laying the foundations in the forwards.

The KC Lightstream Stadium has become something of a fortress and we have defeated Wigan, Catalans, St. Helens, Huddersfield and Wakefield on our home turf after narrowly losing out to the Leeds Rhinos on the opening day.

I was a major critic of coach Chris Chester towards the end of last season on the back of some poor results and especially after our woeful performance at the KC Stadium last July, and just after half time of the Wigan Warriors game on the 1^st March, when we trailed by 14 points having lost our opening 2 fixtures (including an awful performance at Wakefield the week before), I was shaking my head and thinking about who our new coach could be - but then something wonderful happened.

Terry Campese - Talismanic figure.

Campese took the game by the scruff of the neck and hauled us to a 22-20 win and the scenes at the end were fantastic with the players going round the edge of the pitch and hi-fiving the fans and having their photographs taken with their supporters – you would have thought that we had qualified for the Grand Final instead of having claimed our first league win of the year.

It seemed to galvanise everybody – coaching staff, players and supporters - and whilst things have by no means been perfect since then, we have looked like a dangerous team with the ball in hand and have improved our defensive performances (apart from the Wigan away league game when an U10s side would have ran through us!!!)

Hull Kingston Rovers now head into a season defining period of 5 very important weeks.

We play our local rivals Hull FC at the Magic Weekend on Saturday afternoon in Newcastle – a weekend where we always seem to perform well more often than not having won 6 of our 8 games at Magic and 5 out of 6 against our old rivals (does anyone remember Ganson’s last minute howler when he ‘’tracked the wrong player’’ which cost us our only Magic defeat to the black and whites????) and then we head into 3 consecutive home league fixtures against Castleford Tigers , Widnes Vikings and Warrington Wolves before the month of June closes out with the Challenge Cup quarter final tie at home to Catalans Dragons.

Five very important season defining weekends.

Win those 5 games, create some momentum and we could be nailing on a Super League spot for 2016 that comes with finishing in the top 8 and also booking ourselves a place in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup for the first time since 2006 – lose 3 or 4 of those and it could be a struggle to make the 8 and another missed chance at glory.

It has to be pointed out that last season we lost all of our homes league games against the Tigers, Vikings, Wolves and Dragons so I am not taking anything for granted but I certainly believe that we are a better and more together team now.

Tony Puletua - loan signing.

However, we are really struggling with injuries at the moment and have had to bring in forwards James Greenwood from Wigan Warriors and Tony Puletua from Salford Red Devils on loan as we currently have Adam Walker, Dane Tilse, Graeme Horne, Greg Burke, Shaun Lunt and Mitch Allgood on the sidelines due to injury.

Greenwood is a good young player and showed up well on debut at Leeds last week and I have always been a fan of Puletua – my real concern is that he has not played for Salford this season due to a contract dispute and is 35 years old although his big game experience will be vital and he will want to finish his career on a high after the disappointment of his time at the Red Devils.

Added to the 6 forwards missing we are also without three quarters Liam Salter and Darrel Goulding and star half back Albert Kelly has missed the last couple of games with a hamstring injury – although Maurice Blair has stood in brilliantly in the halves, particularly against Wigan in the Challenge Cup.

Top try scorer Ken Sio went off with concussion against Leeds last week and I am hoping and praying that he will be fit to take his place in the team this weekend.

As you can see, the next 5 weeks will make or break our season and we are in the middle of an injury crisis to boot.

Thankfully, we have recalled Jordan Cox from his loan spell at Huddersfield Giants and it is good to see the big Academy graduate back in the red and white of his home town club and we have also bloodied youngsters Sonny Esslemont and Steven Holker and have Aaron Ollett back fit and raring to go in his first Hull derby at the weekend.

These will be a challenging few weeks but if we can get over the Hull FC hurdle on Saturday afternoon then I think we will be set up nicely for 4 huge home fixtures that may lead us into the top 8 and further down the road to a first Challenge Cup final appearance since 1986 or see us fighting for Super League survival with the likes of Leigh Centurions, Bradford Bulls and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats amongst others and left dreaming of a Wembley appearance for another 12 months at least.

We all saw what Castleford did last season by coming from nowhere to nearly take out both the League Leaders Shield and the Challenge Cup before finishing 4^th after a last day defeat and losing out to the Rhinos at Wembley.

Nothing is impossible – we dare to dream and if the players are together and play at the top of their game and listen to and follow the maestro Campese then we could see you at Wembley on August 29^th and confirm our position in Super League for 2016.

Can you imagine though if the £1 million pound game between the teams that finish 4^th and 5^th in the middle 8s is between Hull KR and Hull FC?? The winner stays in Super League and the vanquished are relegated to the Championship – unlikely I know – but anything is possible!!

It will be an interesting, painful, euphoric, draining, mesmeric, exciting, infuriating few weeks – this is Rugby League!!!

SIX TO GO – Comebacks, Centurions and sunny Skeggy.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days. My apologies for this being slightly late but it is the first time this week I have had chance to write.

1.       HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Unhappy coach - Shaun Wane.

Hull KR’s turnaround from a 60-0 Super League defeat at the hands of Wigan 2 weeks ago to a 16-12 Challenge Cup victory last Friday night was nothing short of miraculous and showed the team spirit that is in that camp. They played for each other and defended like they did over the Easter period and got in the Wigan players faced just as they did in their 22-20 win at the KC Lightstream Stadium earlier this season – something that they did not do 2 weeks ago when they gave the Warriors a training run and embarrassed themselves totally. The fact that the skipper, Terry Campese, was back in the side made a huge difference and he showed what a high quality player he is in high pressure situations. When others are losing their heads, including the opposition, he is a calming influence and knows the right thing to do at the right time and the right thing to say to the referee at the right time as well. If the hyper critical Garry Schofield thinks he is in with a shout for the Man of Steel then he must be doing something right. The victory was made all the more pleasurable following on from comments made by Wigan coach Shaun Wane that his players had ‘’fire in their bellies’’ after some of Rovers coach Chris Chester’s comments earlier in the week. His ugly face of thunder at the end of the game was worth that 60-0 drubbing 2 weeks ago and I have no doubt that he was expecting another comfortable night as I think he believes Wigan should be given byes right through to the final each year. One thing that hasn’t been picked up on too much was the tackle by Rovers full back Ben Cockayne on Joel Tomkins in the last few minutes. With Rovers leading 16-12 the Warriors launched a well-constructed attack to the right and Tomkins was going full steam to the line before Cockayne made heavy contact and did enough to steer him into touch with the help of his team mates – this is exactly the reason Cockayne needs to play full back – Kieran Dixon would have been brushed away by Tomkins. I also have to say that Wigan half back Sam Powell is a very lucky boy. His cannonball tackle on Dane Tilse was extremely dangerous and was on a par with Rangi Chase’s tackle on Brett Ferres that gave him a 7 week ban. I cannot believe he was not sent off, let alone not put on report or cited by the RFL Disciplinary Committee – it was a shocker and it was only the fact that Tilse has tree trunks for legs that he was not writhing on the floor in agony. Matty Smith had a swift word with Powell on the pitch and you could see he was telling him he was out of order. Where is the consistency from the disciplinary committee?? It was made all the sweeter by the fact that I picked Rovers to win this game when the draw was made. ;)

 

You can see highlights of the match here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJMKiQeTRhg

 

2.     COCKY CENTURIONS!!      

Leigh Centurions are not easy to like in my mind – I think they have an over inflated opinion of themselves which stems from their ridiculous Head of Rugby Derek Beaumont who does not mind piling into other clubs, owners and fans on Social Media. Some of the things that have sprung from his Twitter account should have seen him charged with bringing the game into disrepute and he can blame his son all he wants after his foul mouthed rants on Twitter a couple of weeks ago but the fact is that it was his account, he is the head of a professional sporting organisation looking to gain promotion to the elite level of the sport and he should start acting like a professional. I do not see the likes of Gary Hetherington, Adam Pearson, Ken Davey or Neil Hudgell

Paul Rowley

coming out with the crap he does. They have a very talented and professional coach in Paul Rowley but the fact is that they have limited opposition in the Championship, Bradford Bulls apart, and with the full time squad they have there is no wonder they have won 25 straight games – they are doing exactly what Hull KR did back in 2006 when they reached the Challenge Cup semi final from the second tier by beating WARRINGTON in the quarter finals – but the two Super League teams they have beaten where there for the taking. Salford had multiple injuries and suspensions and lost major players injured (Dobson and Patterson) in the game and Wakefield have lost any confidence they had at the start of the season and have forgotten how to win. Even so, both Salford and Wakefield SHOULD have beaten Leigh. I admit, it says a lot about the Centurions that they came back from losing positions to win both games and they play a very exciting attacking game of rugby league, but will they be able to raise their game on a weekly basis in the Super 8s OR the Super League if they manage to gain promotion.  With the current squad I would say no and even with the record signing of Mickey Higham from Warrington Wolves earlier this week I am not sure that they will have enough to either finish in the top 3 of the middle 8s or win the million pound game to ensure promotion to Super League.

 

3.      WOEFUL WAKEFIELD

I suppose the news that came from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats earlier this week in the wake of the Leigh defeat was less of a surprise than the Wildcats losing to Leigh.  Head coach James Webster had been a dead man walking for a number of weeks and it appears that the Leigh defeat was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Chairman Michael Carter has continually backed his coach and it was Webster who approached Carter and

James Webster

asked for the meeting on Monday that led to Webster recommending that it was best for both parties that he left the club. It is, without doubt, the best decision for everyone involved. Webster was obviously feeling the pressure and showed some naivety with some of the comments he was coming out with and had, more than likely, lost the support of the majority of players. It certainly looked that way in the second half of Sunday’s cup tie. I picked the Wildcats to win this game at the time of the draw and at half time I was sitting pretty thinking there you go – Leigh aren’t that good are they!!! Then came the second half collapse. It was guaranteed that Leigh would come powering back at Wakefeld and all it needed was some tough defence and a willingness to work hard for each other to get through the tough times and they would have been in the hat for the quarter finals. Unfortunately, they capitulated under the pressure as they have so many times this season and seemed to lose interest and heart as Leigh piled on 30 points with just 6 in reply to earn a 36-30 victory. It is such a shame for Webster as I believe he is a very talented coach, as he proved in the second half of last season when he took over from Richard Agar and lifted the Wildcats away from the relegation zone. It will be interesting to see who is willing to pick up this poisoned chalice for the rest of the season and beyond. I sincerely believe that Wakefield have a good squad when fully fit and think that, if they get there motivation back, they will retain there Super League position.

 

You can see highlights of Wakefield v. Leigh here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laDb05FlTm4

 

4.     INTERNATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE A MUST!       

State of Origin

 

It’s State of Origin time in Australia and as always there has been massive publicity and media attention on the coaches and the potential teams. State of Origin is the biggest sporting event in Australia and consistently tops the TV ratings for the whole country – it is very rare that any major sporting event comes even near to the top of the TV ratings in the UK – and this has led to some people to call for a return of the Yorkshire v. Lancashire County of Origin in a bid to improve our chances at international level. To me this concept is old hat and is not an attractive option. The fans would not follow it and the clubs would not support it and would pull players out of squads given any opportunity to do so as they have in the past. The County of Origin was supplanted by England playing The Exiles – a decent concept that faltered because the Exiles, at times, outshone England, because the clubs did not support it and players were pulled out or were playing in Australia and because the additional games could not be accommodated in the years fixture list. The only way to improve England’s performance at international level is to make the Super League more intense on a weekly basis AND more importantly to play regular top quality international rugby league. The 1^st Test v. NZ this November at the KC Stadium in Hull will be England’s first high profile international since the World Cup semi final defeat to the same opposition nearly TWO years ago (England will play Wales 1 week before the start of the Test Series). An English international team has gone nearly TWO years without a serious high profile international match – that just would not happen in any other major sport and cannot be allowed to happen again – any momentum gained from the World  Cup in 2013 has probably been lost and it is vitally important that all 3 Tests, including the Second being held at the iconic Olympic Stadium, are sold out and that England have the opportunity to play regular top quality international Rugby League in their home country every year. The Pacific Island nations, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji plus Papau New Guinea are getting stronger and we need to start looking at the possibility of bringing these Nations into the international cycle so we don’t have to rely on the Australian’s deciding if they want to play international rugby league or not. I started this piece by referencing the State of Origin and I think it would be a great piece of PR to bring the opening match of a series to the UK sometime in the near future – if that could be in London at Wembley or the Olympic Stadium all the better if not, Old Trafford would be a great option – I am sure it would draw a massive crowd and get plenty of column inches and television viewers.

 

5.     GO BARMY IN BLACKPOOL.        

Blackpool at night.

The second tier Championship sides head to Blackpool this weekend for the inaugural Big Bash weekend – the lower leagues version of Super League’s Magic Weekend which started back in 2007. All 12 Championship clubs will head to Bloomfield Road – home of Blackpool FC - for a full round of fixtures over 1 weekend in the seaside resort on a Bank Holiday weekend. If the weather is good then it will be a fantastic weekend mixed in with all of the entertainment that is on hand in the popular seaside resort. The weekend is kicked off by the Championship 1 IPRO Sport Cup final between North Wales Crusaders and Swinton Lions at 12pm before the Cumbrian derby between Workington Town and Whitehaven kicks off at 230pm followed by London Broncos v. Sheffield Eagles (445pm) before the 1^st day is closed off with the West Yorkshire derby between Halifax and Bradford Bulls (7pm). Day 2 kicks off at 1245pm with the Heavy Woollen derby between Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams with coachless Doncaster then taking on Hunslet Hawks (3pm) before a replay of last years Grand Final between all conquering Leigh Centurions and Featherstone Rovers (515pm) finishes off what promises to be a fantastic weekend of rugby league. Thankfully, Sky have got off their backsides and will be televising the weekend’s games in full and I am hoping that we are lucky and that Eddie and Stevo have been given the weekend off because I certainly don’t want to be listening to their drivel for the full weekend. I have been to Blackpool many times and it is certainly a place to have fun with family and friends and whilst it cannot be called a high class holiday resort there is lots to do from the Blackpool Pleasure Beach to the many many pubs and nightclubs that will make a fortune this weekend. I am sure there are going to be some sore heads over this weekend – and not just from the rugby being played!!!

 

6.    SUNNY SKEGGY.        

With Alex Simmons.

I spent the weekend with my family at Butlins in ‘sunny’ Skegness as my eldest son took part in the Leeds Rhinos Challenge 2015. This is the 3^rd year the Rhinos Foundation has held this event which is a rugby league tournament held over two days for boys teams from u7s to u14s and also girls teams from u13s to u15s. My son plays for Skirlaugh Bull’s U12s who came 3^rd in their age group this year after winning it the two previous years at u10s and u11s and they came up against a very talented West Bowling team spearheaded by the son of Leon Pryce who was on hand on the second day to see his team win the u12s tournament. This year there were over 70 teams and over 2500 players taking part in a very special event which needs to be supported by rugby league clubs around the country. The playing venue is just a couple of miles from Butlins and has food and drink stalls, ice cream vans and stalls selling quality rugby league gear at a decent price. This year the weather wasn’t as superb as it was in 2014 but the rain held off and when the sun came out it was nice and pleasant despite the consistent blustery conditions and I even managed to meet the Rugby AM guru Alex Simmons as I walked around the site. He was on hand filming some of the teams involved and had Jamie Jones Buchannan with him who carried out an interview with Leon Pryce in front of some excited kids of all ages. Some of the rugby league played was outstanding and congratulations to every player, coach and administrator who managed to get their teams to this event and make it such a great weekend. The facilities at Butlin’s are top notch and it’s a great weekend to have with your whole family and I would highly recommend it. The weekend is finished off on the Sunday night with a superbly organised presentation with medals for every player involved and a Trophy for each age group winner which are presented by a star player from the Rhinos – this year it was the turn of JJB and Tom Briscoe who followed on from Rob Burrow and Keith Senior last year (basically look at the Rhinos injury list the week before going and you will have an idea of who will be there!!). Professional photographs are taken of the players individually and as a team before the tournament starts on the Saturday morning and every teams has a photograph taken on stage with the Rhinos stars with their medals / trophies at the Sunday night presentation. It really is a fitting conclusion to the weekend and it is an event that I am hoping to get my u7s team to in 2016. The one thing that needs improving is professional player engagement which was noted by Alex Simmons on his radio show on Monday night. Only three professional players JJB, Tom Briscoe and Leon Pryce (basically because his son was playing) where available to the fans so you can imagine they were inundated with autograph and photograph requests which they handled superbly. The Rhinos played on the Saturday so they couldn’t make players available that day and I know Sunday would probably have been a recovery day for them after their Cup win against Huddersfield but it would be great if they could make more players available for this event over the weekend – the kids would love it and I am sure the players would get something out of it too personally. It really is a fantastic event. Check the website out  http://rhinoschallenge.co.uk/ for more information as the 2016 dates will be coming out very soon and take note – it sells out really quickly – it’s a fantastic event and hopefully the organisers will be able to make it even bigger next year and have more rugby league teams involved. 

 

A bit of extra time thinking this week: 

There’s been a fair bit of news and rumours flying about the world this week:

It has finally been confirmed that former Hull KR and Wigan Warriors prop Scott Taylor will be leaving Salford Red Devils at the end of the year to join Hull FC on a 4 year contract. Mickey Paea is on his way out of Hull FC after turning down a contract extension and looks set to return to the NRL with Newcastle Knights.

The marquee player rule is still hotly tipped to be approved in the not too distant future but with the first £100,000 of the marquee player’s salary only being counted on the cap. If it is approved Warrington are still being hotly tipped to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Cooper Cronk.

State of Origin and Australia international forwards Dave Taylor (Gold Coast Titans) and Keith Galloway (Wests Tigers) are interested in joining Super League in 2016 – especially if the marquee player rules comes in.

Leeds Rhinos have missed out on New Zealand Warriors forward Sam Rapira who looks like joining Huddersfield Giants whilst the Rhinos have gone left field and signed Ireland international prop Anthony Mullally from Huddersfield Giants (which has pissed the Giants off as they had offered him an improved contract and he did not tell them he was joining Leeds). The best signing of the week was the Rhinos extending Rob Burrow’s contract by 2 years to the end of 2017. There was a lot of speculation that Burrow was on his way to Hull KR or Castleford Tigers – but the Rhinos have done the right thing and it looks like Burrow will end up as a one club man. It was a no brainer really as the little man is still playing some superb rugby league.

Former Warrington Wolves forward Mike Cooper has signed a 2 year contract extension at St. George Illawarra Dragons until the end of 2017 and will be joined next season and beyond by St. Helens giant forward Mose Masoe.

Good luck to Sam Burgess who has been named in the 50 man England RU training squad for the forthcoming World Cup later in the year. He has been playing back row, pretty successfully, for Bath in the last few weeks but England coach Stuart Lancaster still sees him as an outside centre. I still think it is pretty long odds on him making the final cut for the World Cup squad but it would be great if he did.

England coach Steve McNamara has revealed that he has approached Leeds Rhinos Australian forward Adam Cuthbertson about aligning himself to England and making himself available for selection for the New Zealand Test series at the end of the year. Cuthbertson has been outstanding for Leeds this year and qualifies for England through his English father. Do England need him??

 

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69 .

SIX TO GO - RIP Danny Jones

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, normally this column would look at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days in the world of rugby league. There were two great Pacific Island Tests on the Gold Coast at the weekend, New Zealand defeated Australia for the third time in a row, Kurt Gidley signed for Warrington, Greg Bird will miss Origin after copping an 8 game ban for an illegal throw in the Test Match and it seems like the New Zealand Warriors are looking to remove the ‘Warriors’ from their name and just become New Zealand as they look to bring Test hooker Isaac Luke home from the Raabbitohs in addition to the already signed Roger Tuivasa-Scheck. But all of this pales into insignificance when the Rugby League family loses one of it’s own in tragic circumstances and comes together to show it’s support like it has in the last week.

Danny Jones - Halifax, Keighley & Wales.

1.      

Danny Jones was a 29 year old part time rugby league player with Championship 1 side Keighley Cougars. On a normal Sunday afternoon last weekend he went out to play half back for the Cougars in a league game against London Skolars down in the capital. Danny did not feel 100% in the warm up but, like the vast majority of rugby players throughout the world at every level of the game, he thought he would shake it off and just get on and play the game in the same way he had since starting out as a professional with Halifax Blue Sox, as they were then known, back in Super League in 2003. But something wasn’t right and he knew it and did a rare thing for a rugby player – he asked to be substituted because he didn’t feel well. Unfortunately Danny collapsed at the side of the pitch and despite the best efforts of paramedics and treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in London Danny died from a cardiac arrest. HE WAS JUST 29 YEARS OLD.

2.      

Danny in action for Keighley.

Danny was known as a skilful and hard working half back and represented Wales 12 times and was a member of their 2013 World Cup squad. According to team mates and friends he was a larger than life personality and loved a laugh and a joke and winding up his team mates. Warrington Wolves legend Lee Briers, assistant Wales coach at the aforementioned World Cup, said Jones was instrumental in keeping the squad morale at a high during a tough World Cup for the Welshmen. Danny scored in every Cougars match in the 2009 season and was the only player in British Rugby League to achieve that feat that year.

3.      



Danny and his twins

Even more heart breaking and relevant than the fact that a 29 year old fit young man has died of a cardiac arrest is that he was married and is the father of 5 month old twins who will now never get to know their father. As a father of 4 young(ish) children myself I cannot comprehend going out to work and then never coming home again. How do your family cope with this? The fact that his wife did not get to even see her husband again after he left for his rugby match as he would do every week of the season – that she has young twins to look after by herself now – that she has no one to share the wonderful experience of young family life with. I hope she has a strong family that helps them through this but the fact is that it will never be the same.

Danny and his wife

 

4.      
This brings us to the question about whether this could have been prevented. There is no black and white answer to this. All Super League clubs have heart screening in place as standard for their players but Championship clubs do not. Probably because of costs but it is not guaranteed that Danny’s death could have been prevented even with heart screening but there is a much higher probability that it would have been. A post-mortem has now revealed that Danny was suffering from hereditary heart disease and this could not even be picked up by an ECG that he had late last year. Even so, an annual ECG (electrocardiography) should be mandatory at every level of professional sport to ensure that everything possible is being done to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

 

5.      


Cougar Park Tribute

Keighley Cougars opened their ground for supporters to pay tribute to Danny and have been overwhelmed with the show of support from around the sporting world and by the fans of the club who have attended the ground and left shirts, scarves and flowers amongst other things. The club are going to re-name one of their stands at Cougar Park ’The Danny Jones Stand’ and have retired the no. 6 jersey which Danny was wearing last Sunday. A minutes silence will be held for Danny at every Rugby League match this weekend.

 

6.      


Kyle Amor - after.

The RFL Benevolent fund set up a ‘Just Giving’ page in response to Danny’s death with all funds raised going to Danny’s wife and young children to help them cope with this tragic loss. It must be remembered that Danny was probably the main source of income for his family and, as a part time player, had a full time job as well to hold down in addition to training 4 nights a week. The money he earned will have paid the mortgage, paid the utility bills, the car and for food and clothes and everyday items we all take for granted – that is now gone in an instant. The original target for this fund was a mere £1,000 – that was eclipsed very quickly and as of 9 a.m. Friday morning (UK time) the fund stood at £80,847.15 from nearly 4,929 donations from people from every walk of life and around the world who have been touched by this. Super League players such as Tyrone McCarthy, Kyle Amor, Adam Cuthbertson, Craig Huby, Grant Millington and Oliver Holmes have been on social media urging fans to give money and promising to shave their beards and hair off if particular targets are met. The public have done their job and met the targets and the players have lost their hair and beards.

I urge everyone who reads this, if you haven’t already, to give whatever you can to the fund. This is the link you need: https://www.justgiving.com/dannyjones29

Below is a video tribute to Danny Jones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2OcbOIs98E

  
 

35 years ago today - 1980 Challenge Cup Final - Hull KR v. Hull FC

35 years ago today over 90,000 fans attended the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

Nothing unusual about that you might think but on this day, May 3^rd 1980,  for the first, and so far only time in the history of the game, the final was between two teams from the same city – Hull FC would play Hull Kingston Rovers and the winners would have a lifetime of bragging rights.

I was 11 years old at the time and a mad keen Hull KR fan – I had been supporting the team for 3 years and attended home games with a couple of my friends and their families.

I played rugby league for my school, Ferens Juniors, and they always ran a trip to the Challenge Cup final and fortunately I was booked on this year’s trip. It wouldn’t be my first Challenge Cup Final – I went with school to the 1979 final between Widnes and Wakefield Trinity – but obviously this one was special and we realised that even at such a young age.

Hull KR had qualified for the final with a defeat of Second Division Halifax to qualify for their first Wembley final since 1964 whilst Hull FC had seen off self-proclaimed cup kings Widnes to get to Wembley for the first time since 1960.

Hull FC fans ready for Wembley 1980

The excitement within the city had not been seen before for a rugby league match and the rush for tickets for the final was amazing. Rovers were the reigning League Champions and Hull FC had defeated Rovers in the Floodlit Trophy final in front of 18,000 fans at the Boulevard back in December and were the best supported team in the league having won promotion from the Second Division by winning all of their league games the previous season.

On the morning of the match people travelled down to the match in car, on coaches from local pubs and social clubs or on train – the BBC were at Paragon Train station in Hull as our school boarded the train down to London. My dad travelled with me along with my school friends and Rovers and Hull fans from different schools and areas of the city were all mixed in together – it was a new experience for me and the atmosphere was raucous and exciting with everyone decked out in club colours wearing team jerseys, scarves and hats and carrying flags and wearing rosettes.

The city was left nearly empty and the local businesses would have suffered that day – there was a sign painted on a white sheet that could be seen as people travelled out of the city that read ‘’Last one out turn out the lights’’ such was the exodus expected.

We arrived at Kings Cross Station and I don’t think they knew what had it them in the capital – why where all these people dressed in red and white and black and white singing about ‘Red Red Robins’ and ‘Old Faithful’ and talking in a strange northern accent descending upon their town? It seemed even stranger because people wearing red and white and black and white were holding hands and seemed to be friends and members of the same family – what was going on?

Cleopatra's Needle - impressed!

I remember we got to London quite a few hours before the match so the school had laid on a little bit of sight-seeing before we headed to Wembley – I recall being impressed by Cleopatra’s Needle on Victoria Embankment!!

I don’t recall travelling to Wembley itself but what I do remember is the walk up Wembley Way towards the famous Twin Towers. It was a mass of red and white and black and white and the noise from the fans singing the club songs was deafening at times – you could tell a few people had been in the pubs and had a few beers but the atmosphere was fun and there was no hint of any trouble – people had known each other for years and had waited a lifetime for this game in some instances and they certainly weren’t going to spoil what was a great day for the city of Kingston upon Hull.

We got into the stadium about an hour before the match and at the old Wembley you used to climb up a few steps from the gangways that held the bars and food outlets and over used tilets and as you ascended you could feel the atmosphere build and hit you in the face as you found your seat.  Even at that time there was hundreds of flags and banners flying around this iconic stadium and the quantity only increased as we got closer to kick off and sang the traditional ‘’Abide with Me’’.

As the two teams walked out of that famous tunnel side by side across the pitch to be presented to the Queen Mother before the match the atmosphere grew to fever pitch and ‘Red Red Robin’ and ‘Old Faithful’ battled each other for supremacy just as the two sides would in just a few minutes. There were so many flags flying I couldn’t understand how anyone could see.

Hull KR were led by the legendary Roger Millward, who was playing in his first Challenge Cup Final, and who was also our player coach whilst Hull FC were captained by the outstanding loose forward Steve ‘Knocker’ Norton – two international players who had started their careers at their hometown club Castleford.

Rovers had another legend of the game who was playing in his first Challenge Cup Final. World Cup winning captain Clive Sullivan, a former Hull FC star, was now 37 years old and would line up on the left wing for Rovers – what no one knew at the time is that both Millward and Sullivan would be playing their last game for Rovers in this match.

Hull FC had much more Challenge Cup final experience with 5 players,  Graham Bray, John Newlove, Charlie Stone, Steve Norton and Keith Boxall who had tread the hallowed turf previously against just one for Hull KR – Brian Lockwood.

This was a historic occasion but the game will not be remembered as a classic – as an 11 year old at the time I didn’t think about that kind of thing but was just in awe of the sights and sounds of the day.

The game had the typical start of a local Derby with aggression and errors the order of the day but it was my side, Rovers, that started the stronger and opened the scoring after just 7 minutes.

Steve Hubbard - scored 9 of 10 HKR points

Wingman Steve Hubbard had been a revelation in his first full season in the team and had broken the club record points in a season total that was held by the legendary Neil Fox and it was Hubbard who got the first try on the board off the back of a move that had failed all week in training.

Rovers were 40 yards out from the Hull line and a move set in motion by Roy Holdstock and Allan Agar resulted in Brian Lockwood releasing a wonderful pass for Hubbard, a big man for a winger, to charge onto the ball and score. In the process referee Fred Lindop judged that Hubbard had been fouled in the act of scoring and a penalty try was awarded. Unfortunately, Hubbard missed the conversion but did kick the penalty from in front of the posts and Rovers led 5-0.

Almost immediately Rovers were attacking the FC line again and just as Millward released the ball to Phil Lowe, Hull hooker Ronnie Wileman flew at Millward and hit him with a high shot which was penalised. Hubbard converted to give Rovers a 7-0 lead and it was not known until after the match that the challenge had broken Millwards jaw – the injury that would end his career.

Hull FC winger Tim Wilby got his team back into the game with a try from close range but Sammy Lloyd could not convert and it was the injured Millward who had the last word of the half with a drop goal to give Rovers an 8-3 lead.

The Rovers fans sent our heroes back to the changing rooms with huge cheers and the smiles on our faces were full of relief as we were all very nervous as this was one final we did not want to lose.

The second half was even tighter than the first and was very nerve wracking as Hull pounded the Rovers line for long periods but Rovers defence stood firm.

Lloyd slotted over an early penalty in the half to get the score back to 8-5 but the only other score of the game was a Hubbard penalty with just 5 minutes left which gave Rovers a 10-5 victory – a score line that will never be forgotten by either side – simply because us Rovers fans won’t let FC fans forget about it and we have named a bar at our ground the 10-5 club.

Roger Millward lifts the Challenge Cup

Brian Lockwood won the coveted Lance Todd Trophy and our part of the stadium went delirious as Millward climbed the 39 steps to collect the Challenge Cup Trophy from the Queen Mother along with his team mates.

I remember the team walking around the pitch and I was determined to wait for them even though our teachers had told us to get ready to leave. I was waving my flag and turned round to realise that I had been left by everyone – fortunately I saw my dad coming back down the steps to collect me but I made sure I waved the team passed me.

It was manic leaving the ground to get back into London and I remember a skinhead in FC colours heading towards me – I was a bit concerned but all he wanted to do was shake my hand and say well done – that’s the kind of day it was.

All of us got back into London and actually had time to go to the cinema before we had to get back to King Cross for our late train home. It was a long and tiring day and the atmosphere on the train home was a little subdued as everyone was very tired but it didn’t stop a few renditions of ‘Red Red Robin’ and some FC fans managed to raise themselves to sing ‘Old Faithful’

We got back into Hull late and my friends dad picked us up as we did not have a car and they lived in the next street to us anyway.

The homecoming took place the next day and thousands of fans swarmed into the Hull City Centre outside the town hall to receive the team and see them raise the Challenge cup once more.

Hull KR at the Town Hall

I didn’t make it into town – instead I stood along part of the route and took some photo’s as the open top bus paraded by – it was the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

SIX TO GO – Fans, stadiums and TV deals.

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days.

1.       Support your team Salford fans.

How can a club in the supposed heartlands of rugby league attract a crowd of only 2,800 to a top division game in a fully professional sport? This was the crowd at the Salford Red Devils v. Castleford Tigers Super League game last Sunday and, quite frankly, it is pathetic. Do Salford have fans that care about the club? Do the people of Salford and surrounding areas WANT a rugby league club? London Broncos were slammed for their poor attendances last season but at least they had the excuses of playing in a non-traditional area and had a team that was getting hammered every week. The Red Devils are the complete opposite, they are in the north west of England, they are having a decent season and currently lie 7^th in the SL table having risen as high as third at Easter. OK they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Leigh but they have beaten Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants and have ran Leeds Rhinos and the Tigers close. At the least they are competitive and have some outstanding talent that has been brought in by Marwan Koukash. They are suffering from a lot of injuries and suspensions at the moment and requested that this Friday’s fixture at Hull FC be postponed – a request that I have never heard before and one that was unsurprisingly turned down as the black and whites are desperate for 2 points themselves. Even with this injury crisis they are putting up some strong performances. The players deserve bigger crowds to perform in front of and Koukash also deserves support for what he has done for this club – he has done as he has promised and brought in the best bunch of players that the club has had in a generation and now they are starting to gel and put in some decent performances after suffering 18 months of poor returns on their investment. Now is the time that the Red Devils suppporter’s need to gather and support their team and owner and ensure that he has the encouragement to continue his involvement with the Red Devils instead of upping sticks and moving to the Gold Coast of Australia with the Titans.

2.       Aussies looking for new TV deal

The NRL are looking to open up negotiations on a new TV contract with 2 years still left to run on it’s existing deal and the figures they are talking about are enormous and put’s the profile of rugby league in Australia and New Zealand against it’s profile in the UK into true perspective. It is not unusual for State of Origin matches to be amongst the best watched TV broadcasts of the year in Australia and the NRL are looking to take advantage of that popularity – they know that they bring guaranteed TV ratings to a network. The current 5 year NRL TV deal was signed in 2012 and was valued at just over Aus$ 1 billion. Just three years down the line the NRL are looking at a value of Aus$ 2 billion for the next TV deal and are also looking at the possibility of splitting the TV rights into clusters in attempt to garnish as much financial value as possible. This means that the NRL Premiership, State of Origin, Test Matches and the innovative Auckland 9’s season opener could all be sold off separately to different buyers over different formats including free-to-air, satellite and on-line. Aus$2 billion dollars equates to approx. £1 billion, the current UK deal with Sky Sports is worth £182m for EIGHT years and we are totally in bed with Sky and have no options to open up negotiations with BT Sport, Premier Sports or terrestrial TV channels until 2021 when the landscape of TV rights will have changed out of sight. Hopefully, the RFL will have someone in charge with some vision and imagination then who will see the added value of a Magic 9’s tournament for instance in future TV deals. It will be interesting to see who buys the TV rights for this year’s Test Series against New Zealand as it will give a small indication as to who the RFL are willing to negotiate with and which channels are interested in broadcasting top quality rugby league.

Wakefield's Rapid Solicitors Stadium

3.       The Wildcats need a new stadium.

It looks like the new stadium for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats is in danger of not happening and that will be really bad news for the long term future of one of the games founder clubs. The Wildcats still play on the original site that they played their first game of rugby league on after the formation of the game back in 1895 and it has not undergone any significant re-development in that time and is still very much an old style rugby league ground. There is nothing bad about that in my opinion – when it is full it creates a great atmosphere and there are too many grounds now with a sterile atmosphere because they are played in large football stadiums and are only half full – or much less if you are Huddersfield Giants – but the fact is that the Wildcats no longer own the stadium and it is costing them £250,000 per year to play at their ‘home’ and the club, led by Chairman, Michael Carter, are unwilling to spend money on ground improvements when the best thing for them to do is to have a new stadium built for them. The club thought that they had a deal agreed with developers and the local council to have this lifeline built for them but it appears that, whilst the commercial development is in full swing, there is no sign that the commencement of the construction work on the stadium is about to start or is even in the developers thoughts. The Wildcats are struggling in Super League at the moment – they have lost 10 league games on the bounce after winning their opening two fixtures, have had a horrendous injury list and the gates are dwindling with just over 3,000 attending a premier fixture against Wigan Warriors last week. Even with their injuries some of the performances have been well below what their fans expect – 80-0 at Warrington for example – and the pressure is building on their young coach James Webster. I hope they stick with Webster and I hope they get their new stadium because Super League would be a lot poorer without a foundation club like Wakefield.

4.       Send him to Serbia!!

Matty Bowen

I know Shaun Wane isn’t selecting Matty Bowen at the moment and he will be sent packing at the end of his contract this year as Sam Tomkins is lying in wait ready to take the Wigan no. 1 shirt back, but I don’t think they had to send him all the way to Serbia to try to get him a game!! In all seriousness, it is a shame that Bowen is not in the Wigan side at the moment as I think he is a great talent and whilst he may not have shown his best form throughout his time at the Warriors there is no doubting his ability. Wane has been full of praise for the way that Bowen has responded to his time out of the side in favour of young full back Ryan Hampshire. He has been handing on his experience to the young full back and has spent time with him at training sessions giving him useful advice. Bowen loves rugby league and was in Serbia to help promote the game alongside the Australian Embassy in Belgrade. There are a host of new countries who are now playing rugby league and it would be great to get more players involved in their development in the future.

5.       Internationals are the future.

Tonga v. Samoa

It looks like it is going to be a great weekend of international rugby league in Australia this weekend. Despite the torrential downpour in Brisbane this morning meaning Australia have to wait until Sunday to exact revenge for their 4 Nations Final defeat against New Zealand last November just as importantly and maybe more interestingly is the double header clash of the Pacific Nations taking place at the CBUS stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.  The physical powerhouses of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa converge on the Gold Coast for two games that should see the start of regular international fixtures between these great nations. International Rugby League needs to occur on a more regular basis and these nations in particular need to play more international matches. The countries are rugby mad, rugby league is the national sport in PNG, and supporters would flock to their games so I’m just wondering why these games aren’t being held on one of the islands rather than on the coast of Australia?? Maybe it is size of stadiums, finances etc – I’m sure there are valid reasons but it would be great to get these countries involved in regular fixtures against each other and played in their own stadiums in front of their own fans and what about New Zealand or Australia sending a team over to one of the islands for a full Test Match now and again – it would be massive news on any of the islands and the fans would flock to the games and create a great atmosphere and advert for rugby league. It is also a great way to improve the standard and profile of the national teams and attract new players and sponsors. Surely it is worth a shot??

Highlights of the 2013 meeting between Tongs and Samoa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QE-8sdnBE

6.       Good luck Lance.

Lance Hohaia

Everyone was shocked to hear St. Helens star Lance Hohaia announce his immediate retirement from rugby league this week. Hohaia was out of contract at the end of this year and whilst he wouldn’t be staying with St. Helens it was expected that he would continue his career back in the NRL. The fact that he is retiring due to recurring concussion problems caused by the injuries he received in the Grand Final is worrying for him and his family and he has probably made the right decision for his long term health. I am not going to make this piece about the events of the Grand Final as that few minutes should not define what has been an outstanding professional rugby league career. Hohaia played 185 NRL matches for the New Zealand Warriors and was on the bench in the Gran Final loss to Sydney Roosters in his debut season in 2002. He made the first of 28 Test appearances for New Zealand in the same year against Australia and went on to play full back and score two tries in their legendary 2008 World Cup final defeat of the Aussies at Lang Park, Brisbane. Hohaia made the move to Super League with St. Helens in 2012 and has made 80 appearances in the Red Vee. He is a player who is equally effective at full back, half back or hooker and has scored 90 career tries. Good luck to Lance in whatever he chooses to do in the future.

Highlights of the 2008 World Cup Final between New Zealand and Australia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIN27H4mOho

A bit of extra time thinking….

Good news in Hull in the last week that young rugby league player and Hull KR fan Connor Lynes is now home from hospital. Some may recall that Connor suffered a blood clot on his brain after a game for his youth side Lambwath Lions a couple of months ago. He was found unconscious on the floor of his bedroom the next morning and was rushed straight to hospital were the blood clot was diagnosed and emergency surgery took place to remove the clot. The rugby league family responded brilliantly and the Lynes family has been overwhelmed by the messages of support received from around the world. Connor is back home with his family now after spending a few weeks in hospital in Leeds receiving fantastic medical care and we all hope that he returns to full health and that he get’s the opportunity to step back on the pitch again and play the greatest game.

Congratulations to Eorl Crabtree on signing a new 2 year deal with the Giants. The deal takes him to the end of 2017 when he will be 34 years old. That’s young for a prop now as we can still see Jamie Peacock, Kylie Leuluai and Adrian Morley running around and performing well in Super League at a more advanced age. 

The Steve Prescott Garden of Remembrance, opened at St. Helens Langtree Park last week, is a fantastic idea and another fitting tribute to the man himself and gives supporters of the club a place to go to pay respect to their loved ones.

A few rumours flying about this week again:

Newcastle Knights veteran Kurt Gidley is definitely coming to Super League next year – we just don’t know where yet. St. Helens have just re-signed Shannon McDonnel until the end of 2016 so it appears unlikely he will be headed to Langtree Park and a few on social media are mentioning the Rhinos but I don’t know where he would fit in there. I guess he won’t come cheap so it is likely he will head to one of the big boys.

Former New Zealand international prop Sam Rapira is another player definitely coming to Super League and it looks increasingly likely it will be with the Leeds Rhinos.

Former Australian international prop David Shillington has been hawked around both Hull clubs in the last few weeks but it appears he is set to stay in Australia and sign for the Dragons.

Many Sea Eagles want to bring Premiership winning coach and club legend Des Hasler BACK to the club from Canterbury Bulldogs. Hasler left in acrimonious circumstances after the 2011 Grand Final win and his return would see an end to the reign of another club legend Geoff Toovey. The Sea Eagles are currently struggling on the field and with player retention. They have lost star forwards Anthony Watmough (Eels) and Glenn Stewart (Rabbitohs) and have recently announced the departures of star halves Daly Cherry-Evans (Titans) and Kieran Foran (Eels) at the end of the year.  

A few clubs have sounded out New Zealand international Kevin Locke about a return to the NRL. But the fact is that he earns too much money at Salford Red Devils for them to compete.

Could Chris Sandow be on the move? His contract with the Parramatta Eels is up at the end of the year and club legend Brett Kenny is one former player who think’s the club should not renew his contract. The Eels have signed Kieran Foran from Manly for next year and also have former Broncos half Corey Norman on their books, so Sandow’s position could only be as back up if he re-signs. Manly are a possibility as they need halves and there were big rumours last year that Sandow was coming to Super League. Undoubtedly, his style of play would make him a star performer in Super League. Any takers??

 

You can follow me on Twitter @sharpster69.