Let’s face it, our 2 pre-season results could not have been
much worse.
The results of pre-season games do not generally affect how
I think a team are going to perform during the forthcoming season, however our
2 pre-season games have brought heavy defeats with us conceding 98 points in
total.
The home defeat to Huddersfield Giants, 38-6, with a decent
team out on the field was bad enough but was easily written off as it was the
players first hit out since September (as it was the Giants also) plus we had
another game the following week, away at Hull FC, to put right any wrongs from
the Giants game.
Unfortunately, the FC game was an even bigger disaster.
Even allowing for the fact that it was a pre-season
‘’friendly’’, conceding 60 points to anybody, let alone your fiercest rivals
points to some serious issues that need solving and solving quickly with only 2
weeks to the opening league game against Castleford Tigers – a particular
bogey side of ours at the moment who have beaten us the last 5 times we have
played each other.
Again, the team that was put out against FC was largely the
one that will take the field against the Tigers on February 7th.
We already have 4 players that will miss the start of the
season – all of whom would be in the starting thirteen. These are headed by
the influential club captain Terry Campese plus regulars Kevin Larroyer, out
for at least 3 months with a shoulder injury, Shaun Lunt, who has had an ankle
operation and will be out for 2 months and young centre Liam Salter who had a shoulder
operation in the off season and will miss the first few weeks.
Apparently, Lunt has been carrying his injury since last season - so, why it has been left to the cusp of a new season to have this operation done is mind boggling. Young centre Thomas Minns also missed the FC game with an injury picked up against the Giants but is likely to be selected for the opening league game if he is fully recovered.
My main concerns are that we are low on numbers, not
physically big enough and that our recruitment has been poor – I also don’t
like the fact that we released so many local players from last year’s squad
including the experienced Kris Welham, who had an outstanding 2015. To me, that decision, in particular, is looking like a major mistake.
Add in fellow experienced first teamers Jordan Cox and Aaron
Ollett plus youngsters Conor Robinson, Macauley Hallett and Sonny Esselmont and
that is six born and bred Hull lads that have been released – what kind of
message does this send out to young local players??
Hull KR finished 10th in Super League last year,
winning just 9 out of 23 league games prior to the Super 8s split, and had to
take part in the Qualifiers.
8 of those wins came from 11 home games whilst we only
managed to win 1 out of 12 away games. Even though that win was at Hull FC – it is a very poor return and it is clear that our away form destroyed our season.
It is also clear that if a team finishes 10th in
a league of 12 teams it needs to be strengthened – considerably.
Look at last year’s Premier League Champions, Chelsea. They
failed to improve their squad sufficiently in the summer, much to the chagrin
of Jose Mourinho, and look where they are now. Their rivals made major signings and have improved and Chealsea have sacked their manager and are scrabbling around in the lower reaches of the Premier League – unthinkable!!
And that is where my major concern lies – has our squad been
strengthened enough in order to challenge for a top 8 place?
In short, and based on pre-season performances, the answer
is no.
The match day squad has not changed that much and of the 17
that took part in the Challenge Cup Final, only three have departed – Welham,
McCarthy and experienced prop Tony Puletua.
We certainly did not want the number of squad changes we had
last year (about 18 in total throughout the year), even though that seemed to
re-invigorate the squad rather than hinder it, but the additions, in my mind,
needed to be proven quality players who would have an immediate and positive
impact alongside 1 or 2 youngsters that could be brought in as the season
progresses.
As everyone is
aware, Jamie Peacock is now the Director of Rugby at Hull KR and two of his
major areas of responsibility, in conjunction with Head Coach Chris Chester,
are recruitment and retention. JP has been seen as something of a Messiah in East Hull - but let's not forget that this is his first Managerial position and to expect him to wave a magic wand and make us title contenders immediately is practically delusional.
There is a distinct Leeds Rhinos theme to the incoming
players that Peacock has been responsible for.
The most well known of the three signings from Peacock’s
former club is back rower Chris Clarkson. Clarkson made his debut for the
Rhinos in 2010 and went on to play in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final defeat to
Wigan and the Grand Final victory over St. Helens in the same year.
After playing 100+ games for the Rhinos he was sent out on
loan to Widnes Vikings last season and, despite the Vikings wanting to sign him,
he was persuaded by Peacock to sign a 3 year contract at the KC Lightstream
Stadium.
He will be a direct replacement for the departed
Tyrone McCarthy and those are big boots to fill. Even though McCarthy was only at the KC Lightstream Stadium for 12 months he certainly made a big impression – playing in all but 4 of 35 league and cup games and taking over as skipper in the absence of the injured Terry Campese.
The two other signings from the Rhinos have much less
experience but, according to Peacock, have bags of potential.
Young three quarter Minns is 21 years of age and made 3
appearances for the Rhinos before spending the last 2 seasons on loan at London
Broncos and Featherstone Rovers respectively.
Robbie Mulhern is also 21 and has 4 Super League appearances
for the Rhinos under his belt and has also represented Ireland in the European
Championship. He is said to be a strong and brave ball carrier with a high
work rate.
These 2 players are undoubtedly ones for the future as is 16
year old winger Will Oakes who was signed from the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Academy where he has gained international honours with England and has plenty
of pace and power for his age.
Minns may well take a starting place in the centre at the
start of the year as Liam Salter will be out for the first few weeks whilst it
is likely that Mulhern will be brought on gradually throughout the season.
Former Wigan Warriors centre Ian Thornley will definitely
have one centre spot tied up. Thornley has had an injury hit couple of years
since scoring a try in Wigan’s Challenge Cup final win in 2013 and spent part
of last season on loan at Salford Red Devils.
This signing does not inspire me with confidence and I would
have preferred us to work much harder to keep hold of Kris Welham. Seeing a long serving local lad drop down to
Championship level with Bradford Bulls just seems like a waste of talent.
The final new signing is 23 year utility back Ryan Shaw who
has been signed after a successful 1 season spell at Bradford Bulls. Shaw scored 16 tries and kicked 111 goals in just 25 appearances, mainly from full back although he can cover any position across the three quarters and adds good utility value.
He has made nearly 90 career appearances for Leigh, Barrow, Swinton, London and the Bulls and has a record of a try every two games – it will be interesting to see if he can bring that scoring record to Super League.
There has been some tinkering with the rest of the backline
as well with Ken Sio moving from the wing to full back and swapping positions
with Kieran Dixon – this worked well post Wembley last year and, to be honest,
I have always thought that Dixon’s best position was wing rather than full
back.
Josh Mantellato made a massive impact in 2015 and will
retain his spot on the left wing where he struck up such a successful
partnership with Welham last year – his new partnership with Thornley will
be vital to any success that Rovers may have this year.
The big question still to be answered 100% is who will
partner last year’s star man and Player of the Year Albert Kelly at half back.
2015 saw Sio, Dixon, Mantellato and Kelly all score 15 tries
or more and they, along with Campese pre-injury, all had a huge impact on the
attacking prowess of the team – but it was the former Gold Coast Titan who was
the star of the show and really stepped up to the plate when Campese was
injured back in June.
Even though Kelly missed all of the middle 8 qualifiers
after suffering his own knee injury in the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat of
Warrington Wolves he was still the club’s stand out performer over the full
season.
Albie is a high octane, high energy, big impact type of
player who likes to be involved in everything happening on the pitch and the
type of player that Hull KR fans love.
He will be expected to be at the forefront of everything
positive this year and will need to lead from the front and set a high standard
for the rest of his team mates to follow.
His half back partner in last year’s middle 8 Qualifiers,
and in this year’s pre-season games, has been local youngster Matty Marsh.
Marsh showed up well in the Qualifiers but it remains to be
seen if Head Coach Chris Chester believes he is good enough for the weekly
rigours of Super League – the coaching staff will have known for long enough
that Campese would not be fit to start the season so I am sure that they will
have spent a long time ensuring that Marsh is physically and mentally strong
enough to step up to Super League standard come the opening fixture against
Castleford Tigers on February 7th.
As I mentioned above, Terry Campese not being available for
the start of the season is no big surprise but his loss will be felt much more
keenly after the two pre-season results and performances – the team seems to
urgently need his organisational skills and leadership ability and I hope that
when he does return he will be 100% fit and will not be susceptible to further
serious injury.
I think our backline will be competitive – it has try scorers
in there and players with the ability to create something out of nothing but I
have major concerns over the forwards.
I don’t think we are physically big enough or
strong enough and have not recruited any experienced forwards who can give us some
grunt and respect up front – someone like Michael Weyman, Mickey Paea, Clint
Newton, Ben Galea or Michael Vella – forwards who have gained opponents respect
and know the type of job they need to do.
Chris Clarkson is the only new forward recruit with top line
experience and with injuries putting paid to the start of the season for
hooker Lunt and back rower Larroyer, we really need the likes of Australian duo Mitch
Allgood and Dane Tilse to prove their worth and provide some much needed
leadership.
Allgood, signed from Parramatta Eels last year, had an injury hit
first season and never got a good enough run of games to enable him to show his
top form and Tilse, a mid-season signing from Canberra Raiders, did not provide
too many positives I the second half of last season.
French international John Boudebza stepped up brilliantly when deputising for
Lunt last year and was one of the finds of the whole Super League season and
fully deserved his extended contract. I have no doubt that Boudebza will not let
us down this year and he may have to be backed up by Ben Cockcayne off the
bench.
I am hoping that James Green is given the opportunity he
deserves this season. In my mind he was unfairly dropped for the Challenge Cup
Final, in favour of Allgood, after a storming semi-final performance and I hope
he can take his excellent pre-season form into the new season and form an
effective front row partnership with Adam Walker.
Walker never lets us down and always plays well and he will
need to take his game up another level this year.
James Greenwood has been signed on a full time deal from
Wigan Warriors after spending most of last season on loan at the KC Lightstream
Stadium – I have to be honest and say that I saw nothing last year that
warranted us signing Greenwood but other people rate him and, hopefully, he can
prove me wrong.
We were short on props at stages last year after Mick
Weymans shock retirement and Allgood’s long term injury, hence the mid-season
signings of Tilse and Greenwood, but the signing of young prop Mulhern from the
Rhinos gives us 5 props and it looks likely that Chris Chester will be starting
with an extra prop at loose forward to try and bolster our pack.
Clarkson is likely to take a starting second row position
alongside either Graeme Horne or Maurice Blair.
Neither player will let us down and both can fill in other
positions.
Blair played a big part of last season at stand off and did
an outstanding job but has said that he would prefer to play second row in 2016
and looked very effective in that role at times in 2015.
Horne is an underrated player, except by Rovers fans who
fully appreciate the qualities he brings to the team whether he is playing
second row or centre or even backing up at hooker.
James Donaldson is a forward that I would like to see us use
a lot more this season. Donaldson made most of his appearances from the bench
last year and always provided a positive impact when he came on and, despite
not being physically the biggest of players, his commitment, desire and enthusiasm
can never be questioned.
A wild card is young back rower George Lawler – the son of
former Hull KR player Kenny.
Lawler was signed last year from local amateur side West
Hull and made an impact in the appearances he made in the Qualifiers scoring
tries against Widnes Vikings and Salford Red Devils.He looked to have made the step up comfortably and I hope to see him make his Super League debut this year.
Young Steven Holker may struggle for opportunities this year
but with the depth of the squad currently, and with the injuries already
affecting the team, he may not be far from Chester’s thoughts.
The depth and strength of the squad as a whole is a major
concern of mine and recent talk has been the potential signing of former
Australian international Tony Williams from Canterbury Bulldogs.
‘TRex’ has not had the best of times since signing from
Manly 3 years ago and would be a good replacement for Tony Puletua who made
such a big impact when signed mid-season from Salford Red Devils last year.
However, that link appears to be going nowhere and instead
we seem to be close to signing a player called Sami Sauiluma who is actually an
outside back and has played with Campese and Tilse at Canberra Raiders. He is
only 24 years of age and is currently signed to Burleigh Bears in Australia.
Personally, I don’t think we need to sign a new back – our
priority should be to sign an experienced forward who will have an immediate
impact.
Peacock and Chester have continually said that there
priority is to sign young players but I seriously believe that our squad is
weaker than last year – other teams have improved their squads whilst we
definitely haven’t and I am struggling to see this squad competing for a top 8
spot.
I hope that they are lulling us into a false sense of insecurity
and that they will come out on February 7th and take the Tigers to
the cleaners.
Realistically, I think we are in for a long and hard season.
