Hull Kingston Rovers - 2015 Season preview

Following on from my highly critical article after the embarrassing 28-0 Derby defeat http://www.seriousaboutrl.com/5/archives/08-2014/1.html at the end of last August, as we are on the cusp of a new Super League season, and on the back of comeback win in the pre-season trial at the KC Stadium last Sunday, now is a good time to evaluate the changes that Hull Kingston Rovers have made to their squad and backroom staff in an attempt to improve on a highly disappointing 2014 and ensure that, at the least, Hull KR finish in one of  the all important top 8 positions after 23 rounds this year.

Prior to the 2014 season, Chairman Neil Hudgell stated that Hull KR had their strongest squad in the Super League era and would look to build on an 8^th place finish in 2013.

12 months down the line and 13 new players have joined the club with a similar number leaving.

Three of last year’s major signing’s, Grand Final winning scrum half Kris Keating, former New South Wales prop Justin Poore and former Queensland forward and current Papua New Guinea international Neville Costigan have all left the club.

Poore was unfortunate that the injury he received on Easter Monday at Catalans Dragons, a broken kneecap, has ended his career. He never really got going at Rovers as two early season suspensions restricted his appearances prior to the Easter Weekend.

Keating never hit the heights that was expected of him, came nowhere taking over the mantle of skipper Michael Dobson and never settled in the UK. It was clear that new coach Chris Chester was not keen to keep him at the club and a deal was agreed to release him from his contract to allow him to return home to Australia and join St. George Illawarra.

Costigan is the most disappointing loss of the three. After a slow opening to his time at Hull KR, he put in a number of strong performances in the Rovers pack and was expected to be a major part of the forward pack in 2015.

His decision to remain in Australia and have the second year of his contract cancelled just prior to the start of pre-season training was disappointing and un-professional.

Even greater losses though are those of our joint captains from last season – Travis Burns and Josh Hodgson.

Josh Hodgson - NRL bound.

 Both were outstanding throughout their time at Hull KR with Hodgson making his full international debut in the Four Nations in November. You can’t blame him for wanting to make a name for himself in the NRL and Josh will give it all he has to make himself a success at Canberra Raiders.

 

Travis Burns

 

Burns ran the show for Rovers last year and excelled – his half back partnership with his former Penrith Panthers colleague Luke Walsh at St. Helens could determine whether they retain the Super League crown or not.

Other first team regulars to leave the KC Lightstream Stadium are Craig Hall, whose versatility and skill is a big loss in my eyes, he has joined Wakefield Trinity Wildcats with a view to playing regular Super League rugby, wingman Omari Caro and forward Jamie Langley did not have their contract’s renewed, full back Greg Eden has joined the Brisbane Broncos, Rhys Lovegrove has re-located to London and joined the Broncos of the capital in the Championship, whilst David Hodgson, Jason Netherton and Sean Gleeson have all retired.

Hodgson and Burns are big boots to fill – they were the dominant players in a struggling team in 2014 and with Keating also leaving it means that a brand new half back partnership will be steering the Robins ship around in 2015.

That new half back partnership looks likely to be Terry Campese, already appointed as club captain, and Albert Kelly.

Albert Kelly - exciting.

Both are high quality players but have had their injury problems in the last couple of seasons back in Australia and how well Rovers go will be dictated to by how much game time Campese and Kelly have.


I expect Campese, signed from Canberra Raiders where he had a difficult last couple of years, to be the general and direct the play with Kelly, signed from Gold Coast Titans and not yet 24 years of age,  being the more dynamic and off the cuff half back and I think he has the potential to be one of the most exciting half backs in the competition.

Terry Campese - new club captain.

One of the many things the Rovers backline lacked last year was speed – that shouldn’t be the case in 2015.

We have mentioned Kelly already, he has bags of speed and Rovers have raided the London Broncos for another young back in Kieran Dixon.


Dixon was out injured due to a badly damaged knee for a full 12 months up to the end of last season.

At the time of his injury in 2013 he was in the England Knights squad and was rated very highly – probably higher than Mason Caton-Brown who has since signed for Salford Red Devils and looks a likely England player of the future.

Kieran Dixon
 

In the first two pre-season friendly’s Dixon has started at full back and excelled, scoring an outstanding try in last week’s win at the KC Stadium  as well as kicking three conversions from the touchline.

Dixon will face competition for the full back berth from Ben Cockayne who was outstanding in that position last year until injury ruined his season. Cockayne has had close season surgery and will have a hell of a fight to regain his favoured position.

Although more under the radar than Campese and Kelly, I expect ex Parramatta flyer Ken Sio to be one of the signing’s of the year in the whole of Super League,

At 25 years of age, Sio is in the prime of his career and is the type of player that will set Super League alight – he scored 13 tries in just 12 NRL appearances for the Eels in 2014 and has a career record of 37 tries in 57 appearances.

On the opposite side of the field could line up Italian international Josh Mantellato.

Not a lot is known about Mantellato in the UK – he is best known for kicking the drop goal that secured Italy a historic 15-14 victory over England in the lead up to the 2013 World Cup.

He has little NRL experience, having made only 2 first grade appearances for the Newcastle Knights, yet he is a prolific points scorer in the reserve grade New South Wales Cup and has been named on the wing in the team of the year for the last 3 years.

It will be interesting to see if that form translates well to the Super League.

Darrell Goulding

Experienced Wigan centre Darrell Goulding was signed half way through last year and is now fully recovered from injury and will be a useful signing. He will certainly help to bring on the young local born centre Liam Salter who had such a good 2014 season.

Maurice Blair, a team mate of Kelly’s at the Gold Coast Titans, has also signed but I am not sure where he will fit in at the moment.

When he signed it was presumed that he would form a half back partnership with Kelly – but then Campese was recruited and you can guarantee now that Campese and Kelly will be the half back pairing for as long as they stay fit.

This means Blair will be a back up or will be moved to the centre where he has experience as well.

Centre is a hotly contested position – Goulding will definitely have one side tied up – and I would like to see young Salter handed the other centre position.

Throw in the experienced Kris Welham, who had a nightmare 2014 including being loaned out to dual registration club Gateshead Thunder on a couple of occasions, Graeame Horne, who is more of a back rower these days, Mantellato who can also play centre and the youngster Macauley Hallet, who made a try scoring debut at the end of 2014, and you can see it’s going to be tough for whoever is left out.

The pack actually looks stronger all round than last year but we will do well to cover the loss of Hodgson at hooker.

Keal Carlile will take over the hooking duties backed up by the unknown Frenchman John Boudebza who was signed from Lezignan.

Keal Carlile - big opportunity.

Carlile will let no-one down and makes few errors but he does need to up his game out of dummy half if we are to have anywhere near the same potency that we had with Hodgson – it was clear the club wanted to bring in a hooker but could not close deals for Matt Srama or Shaun Lunt so they have decided to give Carlile the chance he has been craving for a few years now to prove that he is up to the job of being a Super League first choice hooker – I hope he is.

Mick Weyman had a great first season in Super League scoring 7 tries and being a very popular player with the supporters who loved the effort and desire he showed every week.

The front row has been strengthened greatly by the arrival of Mitch Allgood from Parramatta and the surprise signing of Ryan Bailey from Leeds Rhinos.

No-one saw the Bailey signing coming as everyone assumed that he would stay at Leeds for life – but he has come to Rovers for a new challenge and more game time and I expect to see a more mature and disciplined Bailey line up alongside Weyman.

Youngsters Adam Walker and James Green will, hopefully, continue the improvement they have shown over the last 12 months.

If they do, we have a strong front row rotation and the back row also looks stronger.

Kevin Larroyer - outstanding in 2014.

French international Kevin Larroyer was outstanding last year and if he continues that fine form he will be a certain starter – add in the fact he is comfortable playing 80 minutes and he is a great option to have.

Graeme Horne had a solid 2014 and local youngsters Jordan Cox, who was courted by St. Helens before agreeing a contract extension, and Aaron Ollett both had impressive years.

Another young local, Sonny Esslemont also made his first team debut in 2014 and big things are expected of him.

The back row has been strengthened by the addition of James Donaldson from Bradford Bulls, the experienced former Warrington Wolves Challenge Cup Final winner Tyrone McCarthy who was signed from Northern Pride in Australia and Wigan back rower Greg Burke has joined on a 12 month loan deal.

There is certainly more strength in depth and the recruitment seems solid and, in places, inspired.

But the biggest signing could have come off the pitch.

Willie Poching - winning experience.

Willie Poching has joined as assistant coach and his experience in winning cultures at Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves over the last few years could prove the difference between a struggle to make the 8 or competing for a top six place.

Despite the poor end to last season under Chester, he does seem to have recruited well and there is a feel good factor floating around at the moment – especially after coming back from 22-6 down to beat Hull FC 28-22 at the KC stadium last Sunday.

That result will mean nothing unless the team aims up in Round 1 against Leeds Rhinos at the KC Lightstream Stadium – the exact repeat of last years round 1 fixture when a stadium record crowd of over 11,000 packed in and had high hopes for a successful year.

Drawing 6-6 at half time the optimism was still there – 40 minutes later and the Rhinos had scored 28 unanswered points and won the game easily – we cannot have that repeated if the team, and Chester, are to be taken seriously.

The number of second half collapses under Chester last year was frightening and that has to have been resolved if we are to be competitive this year.

Hopefully, if everyone stays fit I think we will make the 8 and challenge for 7^th or maybe 6th – no higher than 6^th – but I must admit I will be happy to avoid the middle 8 play offs and secure our Super League position for another year.

Having said that, we saw what happened at Castleford last season – who says this can’t be the year of the Robin – it’ll be about time.
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Albert Kelly in action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI1Kl0XdkOU

Ken Sio in action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54czfT_nWHs

Josh Mantellato in action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A3LD-Uq14g

Michael Dobson - Salford's Missing Link??

This article was posted on www.rugbyam.co.uk on 24th December 2014.
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As a Hull Kingston Rovers fan one of the most interesting signings for 2015 is the return to Super League of our former scrum half and team captain Michael Dobson.

For the best part of 5 seasons from 2008 to the end of 2013, when he returned to Australia to play for the Newcastle Knights, Dobson became as synonymous with Hull Kingston Rovers as the club song ‘Red Red Robin'.


Dobson was the stand out performer for Hull KR week in and week out and during his time at Craven Park he undoubtedly played the best Rugby League of his career and was one of the outstanding players in Super League.

First stint in SL - Catalans Dragons

He had already had stints in Super League in 2006, on loan from Canberra Raiders, with Catalans Dragons and Wigan Warriors, whom he helped to drag away from the relegation zone under Brian Noble, before returning to the Australian capital where he made his NRL debut in 2007.

The Raiders released Dobson from his contract in 2008, after just 20 NRL appearances, to allow him to take up the contract offer from Rovers who were looking for a long term replacement for James Webster.

Webster had helped pull Rovers from the National Leagues and consolidate their Super League position in 2007 before he suffered a long term shoulder injury a few weeks into the 2008 season.

Dobson made an immediate impact scoring 2 tries on his debut on the 25^th June to help the Robins to a 22-8 win against the London Broncos.

Not everything was rosy in the garden however.  Rovers were in only their second season in Super League and were still finding their feet.

After the Broncos victory the team then went on a 6 match losing streak before Dobson got them back to winning ways by scoring 4 tries in a 39-22 home win against his former club Wigan.



Michael Dobson - in action for Hull KR.

Although Dobson could not help Rovers to a top 6 play off spot in 2008 the consolidation process was successful and with a host of new signings such as Ben Galea, Daniel Fitzhenry, Clint Newton, Peter Fox, Jake Webster and Shaun Briscoe now bedded in, Rovers were set to explode in 2009.

 

A brilliant 2009 campaign for Hull KR and Dobson was crowned with a 4^th place finish, their best since the title winning days of the 1980’s and Dobson winning the prestigious Albert Goldthorpe Medal as the Rugby League Express Player of the Year.

Dobson was at his mercurial best, constantly creating tries with superb passes and brilliant kicks.

Add in his accurate goal kicking and this was a player displaying the full range of skills at a consistently high level.

Rovers lost both play off games in 2009 and never reached the heights of 4^th during the rest of Dobbo’s time at Craven Park but everything that was good about the Red and Whites had some form of contribution from Dobson.

Rumours had been rife for a while and when it was announced in June 2013 that Dobson was leaving Hull KR at the end of the season, it was no surprise.

Although Dobson had a contract for another year, it was common knowledge in Hull that the club would not stand in his way if an approach was made by a NRL club – Dobson had made it clear that he wanted one more crack at the highest level in his home country.

Wayne Bennett’s Newcastle Knight’s were the club that struck the deal but it seemed strange that it was only a 1 year contract.

Dobbo signs for Newcastle Knight

Immediately, the rumour mill in Hull went into overdrive with Dobson linked to our main rivals Hull FC as well as Salford Red Devils upon the completion of his one year contract at the Knights.

This was especially the case as it was clear that Dobson would not be first choice at the Knights and would be, more than likely, playing reserve grade and covering for injury’s.

Dobson did make the Knight’s squad for the inaugural Auckland 9’s pre-season competition and made his NRL bow for his new club in the first round of 2014 against Penrith Panthers due to an injury to first choice half back Jarrod Mullen.

He kept his place for the first 5 rounds of 2014 before Mullen was fit enough to take his place in the starting 13 and Dobson had to wait until round 24 before he made his 6^th and final NRL appearance for the Knights.

Dobson played in 5 losses in his 6 NRL games and played most of the year in the New South Wales Cup Reserve Grade in which he was named at scrum half in the competition’s team of the year.

Back in the UK and the rumours kept on coming about Dobbo returning to Super League.

Hull FC, allegedly, made a good contract offer and it was rumoured that Warrington Wolves were also in the hunt but it came as no major surprise that Dr. Koukash had got his cheque book out and made Dobson an offer that tempted him back to England with the Salford Red Devil’s with a 4 year contract from 2015.

Koukash has spent plenty of money on new recruits since taking charge of Salford at the start of 2013 including top quality players such as Rangi Chase, Gareth Hock, Kevin Locke, Mason Caton-Brown, Weller Hauraki, Ben Jones-Bishop, Scott Taylor as well as Dobson and, most recently, his former Hull KR colleague Cory Patterson.

Salford could only manage a 10^th place finish, 4 points outside the play off spots in 2014, and Koukash made it clear that he was not happy with his squad.

The question now will be can Michael Dobson turn the Red Devils in to a team that can challenge for the Challenge Cup and Super League title?

There is no doubt that they have a squad of high quality and I believe Dobson is the signing that will take them to a top 6 finish and a strong challenge for a place at Wembley.

He is just what they need and something they have not had.

Rangi Chase

 

Rangi Chase and Tim Smith liked to play ‘’off the cuff’ rugby and that is why they did not gel together – when Chase is on his game there is no better sight in Rugby League – Dobson will bring more organisation, a better kicking and passing game and great communication skills as well as being a world class goal kicker.

He is the ultimate professional and will leave nothing to chance. He will be the perfect player for coach Iestyn Harris to get his plans into action on the field of play and I think that if he and Chase are clear on their responsibilities and Chase does not try to impose himself too much, then Dobson will bring Salford, and Koukash, the success that they are craving.

Dr. Koukash - desperate for success.

In the short time that Dobson played in the same team as Cory Patterson at Hull KR they struck up a very good relationship on the left edge with Dobson constantly creating gaps for Patterson to charge through.

If he is able to build this type of relationship throughout the squad, the Red Devils have players of high quality out wide, such as Caton-Brown and Jones-Bishop, and a full back of undoubted brilliance (when he is fit) in Kevin Locke who can take advantage of this very special player’s quality passing and kicking game.

I fully expect Dobson to be one of the outstanding performers in Super League over the next 4 years and I believe he will take Salford closer to major honours than they have been for many years.

Good luck Dobbo, I can assure you of a very warm welcome when you come back to East Hull.
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Michael Dobson played 153 games for Hull Kingston Rovers scoring 53 tries, kicking 534 goals and 12 dropped goals for a total points haul of 1292.

Follow this link to see some of the highlights from his time at Hull Kingston Rovers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK-78lv5bj4
 

Bulls in Crisis

This article was written at the time of the Bull's having 6 point's deducted and entering into administration for the second time and was published on the www.the18thman.com website in February 2014.

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I feel for the Bradford Bulls supporters, staff and players – I really do – the latest setback in a turbulent couple of years has seen them deducted 6 points by the Rugby Football League’s Board of Directors – the maximum penalty for entering administration this month for the second time in 2 years.

To make matters worse, the decision has prompted the club’s proposed new owners, The Bradford Bulls 2014 Limited, to remove their offer for the club.

The offer has been withdrawn as they believe that the sanctions imposed makes ‘’relegation almost a certainty.’’

All Rugby League fans will know that relegation has been re-introduced this season after the scrapping of the Licensing system which guaranteed a club Super League status for a minimum of 3 years if they achieved certain criteria laid out by the RFL. The last club to be relegated was Salford in 2007.

Bradford started the season with a home loss against Castleford Tigers before showing real spirit and determination to overcome Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in their second league game – therefore, the 6 point deduction leaves them on -4 points – 2 wins behind 5 teams who have yet to record their first win of the season. Of those 5 teams London and Wakefield will be the one’s that the Bulls will, probably, have the best chance of catching.

Omar Khan

When local businessman Omar Khan took the Bulls out of administration in September 2012, it appeared the future of the club was bright and that the new owners would be in a position to greatly improve the financial position of the club.

It appears the opposite was actually the truth and when Mr. Khan took the surprise decision to step down in September 2013 after just 12 months in charge the new consortium of Mark Moore, Andrew Calvert, Ian Watt and Ryan Whitcut soon found that the club’s financial problems were far greater than they believed.

In early December they announced that the club had to make at least £400,000 worth of savings and immediately redundancies were made across the club.

On Christmas Eve, the quartet resigned from the club over Mr. Khan’s refusal to transfer the club’s shares but then returned within a week.

On 31^st January, the Bulls were placed into administration for the second time in two years when it’s former holding company, OK Bulls Limited, the company of Omar Khan, entered administration.

The new company, Bradford Bulls 2014 Limited, secured a 28 day Super League licence.

Garreth Carvell

Immediately, they hit further problems with the change of ownership allowing marquee signing Garreth Carvell to break his contract and move to Hull FC and after the first game of the season star player Jarrod Sammut was allowed to leave and join Wakefield Trinity Wildcats – it is galling for any team to lose a star player but when they join a club in a similar position to you it must be even worse – if Sammut had joined Wigan, Saints or Leeds etc, it would have been easier to bear

However, last Friday the administrator accepted the Bradford Bulls 2014 Ltd consortiums proposed takeover which meant that the next step was to have the takeover ratified by the RFL.

This is where more problems appear to have raised there ugly heads.

It seems that despite the new consortium having made cost saving measures of nearly £1m over the past few months, they have been unable to prove to the RFL that they have the funds in place to complete the takeover and were, in fact, attempting to use the club’s own money to buy the club from Omar Khan.

Put simply, it appears Mr. Moore and his fellow members of the consortium do not have the cash to buy the club and honour the agreement they made back in September and, therefore, have been unable to prove that they have a workable business plan to the RFL, leaving the governing body with no alternative but to refuse the takeover by Bradford Bulls 2014 Limited and impose the 6 point penalty.

Add in the fact that part of the sanctions against the Bulls has included them only being awarded 50% of the television money owed to them with the other 50% split equally between the 13 other Super League clubs and it all makes a very bad situation even worse.

Obviously, the Bradford Bulls 2014 consortium are not happy and have been scathing of the RFL’s management of the situation and have withdrawn their offer due, primarily, to the 6 point penalty – this seems strange to me as they must have known that there was a very strong possibility that some kind of points deduction would have been incurred due to the club entering administration prior to them issuing their proposal.


Bulls CEO - Robbie Paul

So, what happens next and what future do the Bulls have??
 As Chief Executive Robbie Paul, a Bradford Bulls legend, tweeted earlier today ‘it’s now time to stand tall – BE PROUD AND STRONG.’

This was obviously aimed at the clubs supporters and it is for their sakes, and obviously the players and staff, that it has to be hoped that the RFL and the administrator can move on and find a new investor.

Local businessman Richard Lamb is reported to be still interested in buying the club.

The club have a talented young coach in Francis Cummins and made some good acquisitions in the summer although Carvell and Sammut have since jumped ship and off half Lee Gaskell suffered a serious knee injury in the win against Wakefield.

Iestyn Harris

Brian Noble with James Lowes.

This is all a far cry from the trophy laden days of the late 90s and early 2000’s when the Bulls, under first Matthew Elliott and then Brian Noble, swept all before them winning 4 Super League titles in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005 and were Grand Final runners up in 1999, 2002 and 2004.

Add to those titles the Challenge Cup wins of 2000 and 2003 and three World Club Challenge victory’s in 2002, 2004 and 2006 and those were heady days for the Bulls fans.

Leon Pryce

The Bulls where at the forefront of the razzamatazz of the new Super League era and set about revolutionising the concept of match day entertainment which saw their attendances average over 15,000 at their peak in 1997 – over double what it had been in the last vestiges of winter rugby league.

They have had some wonderful players such as Leon Pryce, Stuart Fielden, Jamie Peacock, Paul Deacon, James Lowes, Iestyn Harris, Lesley Vainokolo, Shontayne Hape, Tevita Vaikona and the Paul brothers, Henry and Robbie, who have provided some wonderful memory’s in the Super League era.

Stuart Fielden

Unfortunately for the Bradford club, this is not the first time that there entire future has been in jeopardy – in fact Bradford Northern went out of business on the 10^th December 1963 after playing just 13 games that season in front of crowds as low as 324 against Barrow – a club record low attendance.

Club legend Trevor Foster was one of the people who helped resurrect the club in 1964. They went on to win their first trophy as the reformed Bradford Northern in 1965-66 – a 17-8 Yorkshire Cup Final victory over Hunslet.

It is to be hoped that the supporters, staff and players do not suffer the same fate as those involved in 1963 and that Mr Lamb or some other interested party can come in and save this famous rugby league club.

Hopefully, the next owner of Bradford Bulls will have a sensible and workable business plan that can bring the club back to it’s former glory days – for now it would be nice just to keep this club alive and kicking.

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Businessman Marc Green took over the Bulls in March 2013.

He sacked coach Francis Cummins and replaced him with former Bull's player James Lowes.

An appeal against their 6 point deduction failed and, inevitably, the Bull's were relegated to the Championship for next season.

 

 

 

Hull Kingston Rovers - doing it tough in 2014.

This article was written in the wake of an embarrassing Derby defeat and was published on www.seriousaboutrl.com on the 30th August 2014.
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New coach - Chris Chester

On the back of a woefully inept and embarrassing performance in the 28-0 defeat to Hull FC last night, in my mind the jury is still out on whether Chris Chester is the right man to lead Hull Kingston Rovers forward.

Whilst the recent performance at home to champions Wigan was a massive improvement after the dire performances at Widnes and the previous home game against Salford, last night’s performance was the worst of a very poor season.

Rovers were outplayed in every department. Hull were more aggressive in defence and looked dangerous in attack every time they had the ball. On the opposite side, Rovers missed tackles and dropped balls all night long and never looked like scoring  a try.

Allowing for the very wet conditions cannot question the fact that FC out enthused Rovers and simply wanted to win the game more than we did.

A record of 2 wins from 7 games, one of which was against bottom placed London Broncos, does not signal a massive upturn in performances since Chairman Neil Hudgell decided to remove Craig Sandercock from the coaching position just prior to the result of the season – a 40-10 home win against league leaders St. Helens on 6^th July.

Ex coach Craig Sandercock

The Saints game was Chester’s first in charge of the team and many thought that the result was a massive endorsement of Chester as a full time replacement for Sandercock – in my mind it was pretty clear that Chester did not have time to change game plan’s prior to this game and that the team, systems and game plan were Sandercock’s.

The following week resulted in a second half cave in against Leeds Rhinos before the very poor display at home to Salford Red Devils – a game in which we gifted the points to Salford with errors from 3 kicks costing us 18 points in an 18-38 defeat.

The win against London the following week was very welcome and Rovers played some good rugby but we could not follow that up in a pressure situation at the Widnes Vikings which was a must win game if we were to have any chance of making the play off’s – again a poor second half display, something that Chester has continually harped on about, cost us two very important points.

Overall, 2014 has been a tough year for Hull Kingston Rovers.

An 8^th place finish in 2013 was expected to be improved upon as the squad was overhauled for the second year in a row.

Michael Weyman

Neville Costigan

Although star playmaker Michael Dobson was lost to the NRL, former State of Origin forwards Michael Weyman and Neville Costigan were brought in from the NRL with Justin Poore signing from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats along with Grand Final winning scrum half Kris Keating from Canterbury Bulldogs to replace Dobson.

Added to these new signings was the return of the iconic Ben Cockayne from Wakefield and the addition of more forward strength with Jonny Walker joining his twin brother Adam, the experienced Jamie Langley joining from Bradford Bulls with French international Kevin Larroyer signing a 12 month loan deal from Catalans Dragons. 

The fixture list for the start of the new season was tough with 4 of the first 5 fixtures against 4 of last season’s top 5 teams  – Leeds at home and Huddersfield, St. Helen’s and Wigan away – it was clear that the new team would have to gel quickly to get off to a good start.

An opening round loss at home to Leeds Rhinos, in front of an 11,500+ crowd, was no disgrace – although conceding 28 unanswered point in the second half was concerning.

An unexpected second round draw at 2013 League Leaders Huddersfield, after trailing by 12 points with just a few minutes remaining, was encouraging but this was followed by consecutive defeats at home to Castleford Tigers and away at St. Helens and Wigan Warriors.

Consecutive home wins against the struggling Bradford Bulls and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats at last kick started the season and was followed by an excellent win at Warrington Wolves and a late Craig Hall drop goal won the first Derby of the season, 21-20, in a pulsating clash at the start of the Easter Weekend.

Craig Hall winning drop goal

The early season discipline of both Poore and Weyman was frustrating with both receiving bans and preventing them from forming a formidable front row trio with co-skipper Josh Hodgson as often as Sandercock would have liked.

The second game of the Easter weekend, away at Catalans Dragons, put paid to Poore’s season due to a broken knee cap – add in injury’s to David Hodgson and Jonny Walker along with slow start’s to the year from new signings Keating and Costigan and the poor form of full back Greg Eden, sent on loan to Salford Red Devils immediately after the Catalans game, and it was clear that a tough year was on the cards.

The early season form of Omari Caro, Josh Hodgson, Travis Burns, Kevin Larroyer and Michael Weyman were all positives and with Cockayne replacing Eden at full back we now had an extra attacking weapon and a much stronger defender at the back.

Unfortunately, consistency has been a key missing ingredient from this season and indeed from the whole of the Sandercock era and we struggled to build on the foundations of the 4 successive league wins with the defeat at Catalans being followed by a disappointing late defeat at home to Widnes Vikings and a draw away at struggling Salford Red Devils.

The second Derby of the season came at the right time and a morale boosting 38-24 defeat of our local rivals at the Magic Weekend should have catapulted the season forward.


Cockayne injured at Magic

Instead we lost Ben Cockayne, who had been outstanding at full back, for 10 weeks and lost 2 players, Wayne Ulugia and Jonny Walker due to repeated breaches of the club’s disciplinary code whilst Adam Walker and Greg Eden were also dropped for one match each because of poor discipline.

Add in the removal of Sandercock at the beginning of July, a run of 4 wins in 12 league games (3 of them against relegated London and Bradford), poor displays against Castleford, Warrington, Salford and Widnes, strong performances against Leeds (the first 65 minutes anyway), Huddersfield and Wigan and the performance of the season against St. Helens and you have the story of an unfulfilled, disappointing, ill-disciplined and inconsistent campaign.

All of the above bring’s us to where we currently stand – after last night’s defeat and the Widnes victory over Wigan, we cannot make the play off’s, we need to replace our 2 captains and best players Josh Hodgson and Travis Burns who will be plying their trade in Canberra and St. Helens (still to be confirmed but highly likely) next year and with a coach who has a multitude of problem’s to solve if he is to prove himself the right man to take the helm and warrant his new contract.

I can only wonder what Darrel Goulding is thinking – the recently signed centre from current champions Wigan Warriors is a quality player – but will have been expecting to play outside Travis Burns, following Josh Hodgson’s line breaks and being coached by Craig Sandercock – none of that will now happen.

Darrell Goulding

Goulding is an outstanding acquisition, as is Kieran Dixon from London Broncos – a player who has more ability than Omari Caro and who was rated higher than Mason Caton-Brown before a devastating knee injury removed him from the game for the best part of 12 months until recently – Ken Sio, signed from Parramatta and having scored 34 tries in 54 first grade appearances in the NRL, looks as though he could become a firm favourite at the KC Lightstream Stadium whilst young gun James Donaldson from Bradford Bulls will be a solid player for the team as will former Warrington forward Tyrone McCarthy.



Josh Mantellato

The unknown new signing is Josh Mantellato from the Newcastle Knights – having played most of his career in reserve grade, with only 2 NRL appearances to his name, he is an Italian international winger or full back who has been a prolific try and point scorer in the lower grades – it will be interesting to see if he can transfer his skills to Super League successfully.

With local born players Liam Salter, James Green and Jordan Cox continuing their improvement in 2015, the club will be looking to the likes of Aaron Ollett, Sonny Esslemont, Conor Robinson, Macauley Hallett and Josh Gudzek to take on the mantel and increase the number of academy graduates making the step up to Super League.

However, the announcements are yet to be made about the main positions that will have the greatest influence on how Hull Kingston Rovers perform in 2015 – namely, who will replace our co-captains Hodgson and Burns – both players have performed brilliantly for the club and it is these 2 positions along with the new Head Coach Chester that will ultimately influence whether Hull Kingston Rovers contest the top eight play off’s in 2015 or will be competing with 3 Super League clubs and 4 Championship clubs for the right to maintain their Super League status in 2016.

Before last night there was only one positive to take from 2014 - Hull FC had been even worse than us – but after the embarrassing result last night it is clear that Chester has a whole host of serious problems that he need’s to solve before the start of next season.

Good luck Chris and I hope you prove me wrong. 
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Hull KR lost their final home league match against Catalans before ending the season with a confident win at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

Since the end of the season Rovers have confirmed the release of high profile signing Kris Keating, Neville Costigan resigned after deciding to stay in Australia, Omari Caro was not offered a new contract and Greg Eden left the club to sign for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL.

On a positive note they have recruited Maurice Blair and Albert Kelly from the Gold Coast Titans, Ryan Bailey from Leeds Rhinos, Greg Burke from Wigan Warriors and are set to announce further signings in the near future.

Magic 9's

This article was written the weekend after the inaugural Auckland 9's competition and was posted on www.the18thman.com website in February 2014.
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It appears the Antipodeans have done it again and created a Rugby League concept that may endure and captivate for years to come.

From the reports I have read and the clips I have seen on YouTube, it’s clear that the Auckland 9’s weekend was a fantastic success with the reduced numbers on the field creating more space for the like of Shaun Johnson, James Tedesco and Sam Tomkins among others to wreak havoc with wonderful sidesteps, great off loads and long distance tries.

Sam Tomkins

Add in the great weather, the beautiful Eden Park Stadium, crowds of 40,000 + on both days with a carnival atmosphere, fans from all over Australia and New Zealand and it’s difficult to see how it could get any better.


Inaugural winners - North Queensland Cowboys



The North Queensland Cowboys carried away their first ever trophy in their 20^th anniversary year and it was made even sweeter by beating the Brisbane Broncos, their Queensland rivals, in the final.



Now, changing the subject matter very briefly but does anyone else think it’s slightly unfair to have a rogue 27^th fixture in a season when there is relegation back in the mix?

That 27^th fixture, Magic Weekend, could be held up as an excuse / reason for a club’s relegation – especially if a team goes down by a point or on points difference. Unlikely I know, but possible – so, take away any possible controversy and let the teams play each other home and away – 26 games – traditional. This would mean ditching the Magic Weekend fixture – but it doesn’t mean ditching the Magic Weekend.

Anyway, back on track – welcome to the Magic Weekend Super 9’s Tournament!

That’s right! See a good idea and take it and use it to your advantage – everything the Aussies do well, we nearly always copy, so why not this? I am convinced it would be a success.

 

The only unfortunate this is that we would have to have the RFL involved in organising it. Or would we?

Could the RFL be persuaded to set up a separate organising committee of forward thinking individuals who could concentrate on this tournament and make it something special – a la the World Cup!

The clubs would have to buy into this concept completely. There’s no using the weekend to rest players because no league points are at stake; a rule could be that there are no more than 2 players  per squad who have not appeared in Super League games prior to the weekend, meaning the vast majority of Super League stars would be on show. It was the only real negative of the Auckland 9’s, that the majority of clubs left out their big name internationals.

An organising committee would have the time and contacts to attract a major sponsor for the event – making it financially worthwhile for the clubs (the winners of the Auckland 9’s took home AUS$370,000 and the total tournament prize money was AUS$2.25m) and they would also have the time and ability to promote the tournament to the full and why not put the TV contract out to tender to SKY, BT Sports, Premier and a highlights package could be thrown in for BBC and / or ITV as well.

Can't wait for next year?

The tournament would have to be full of razzamatazz, making it a funfilled weekend that parent’s could take their kids too and come home saying ‘WOW – I can’t wait for next year.‘

Razzamatazz.

 

 

The clubs would have a special 9’s tournament jersey which would bring in extra revenue in merchandise sales and hopefully the designers would show a little imagination.

Also, the rules could be altered to make the concept even more exciting – teams wouldn’t be allowed to kick penalty goal’s – there would be bonus zones such as an extra point for scoring a try between the goal posts (as in Auckland) and what about an extra point for scoring from your own half between the 10 and 50 yard lines and two points for scoring from behind your own try line and up to the 10 yard line!

So, a try that is worth 4 points as standard could become a 7 point try if, for example, Greg Eden picked up a kick behind his own try line, carried the ball out and broke the defensive line, drew in the opposition full back (Jamie Shaul of Hull FC!) and sent Ben Cockayne away to score between the posts – 4 points for the try, 2 points for the move originating before the 10 yard line and an extra point for scoring between the posts = 7 points + 2 points for the conversion = a 9 point try. What a killer that would be if you were 8 points up in the last minute and your opposition did that – it would be scintillating.

The tournament would also add a 3rd major trophy into the season for all Super League teams to play for.

I think it could work – it just needs a bit of imagination and the right people to push it forward.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFjCQxDcTs0#