Friday was a great night to be a Hull Kingston Rovers fan and believe me it has not been often that I have wanted to write those words in the last few years.
But it certainly was a case of the feel good Fridays as we sent St Helens spinning to their first defeat of the year. Travis Burns got a kicking on his first return to the KC Lightstream Stadium and missed a last-second kick to give the Saints what would have been a thoroughly undeserved point.
To top it off, Hull FC were beaten at Castleford and it was announced we have signed the legendary Jamie Peacock as our football manager from next season.
But let’s start with the match against St Helens.
Saints went into the match on the back of six successive league wins. They have not really hit their straps though, apart from the Round 2 demolition of Salford City Reds and against the Wolves last week. They have struggled to get past Catalans Dragons, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Widnes Vikings but a winning run breeds confidence and I can tell you that most Hull KR fans were not expecting victory on Friday.
It’s common knowledge that St Helens have struggled in East Hull since they beat us in our first year back in Super League in 2007, but since then they have drawn one and lost six Super League games and have also lost a Challenge Cup tie as well. So Friday night was their eighth defeat in 10 visits to KC Lightstream Stadium.
As I said, most of us Hull KR fans (me included) were not expecting a win as our form has been so inconsistent this season and we have run hot and cold.
When we have been hot we have been scolding with Terry Campese and Albert Kelly splitting Leeds Rhinos apart in the first half of the Round 1 game and absolutely demolishing Catalans Dragons with 46 unanswered points in our last home game in Round 5.
But in between we have suffered a debacle of a defeat at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in Round 2 and lost a game that we really needed to win at Widnes Vikings in Round 6.
We are running short on props at the moment with the retirement of Mick Weyman, the suspension of Mitch Allgood (although he will be back for the derby next week) and the loss announced this week of former Leeds Rhinos star Ryan Bailey, released for personal reasons.
And it was thought that a Saints pack including the imposing figures of Kyle Amor, Mose Masoe and, one of the players of the year so far, Alex Walmsley, backed up by James Roby at hooker would steamroller a Rovers pack.
But the Rovers pack, in particular the front row of Adam Walker, James Green and outstanding new signing Shaun Lunt at hooker got through a mountain of work and really stood up and took the fight to the Saints pack. They were also superbly backed up by the back row of Graeme Horne, Maurice Blair and Tyrone McCarthy. Kevin Larroyer and James Donaldson came off the bench and provided some much needed quality and hard working support.
But it was halfback Albert Kelly who was the star of the show, particularly in the first half with two 90-metre tries that really set the tone for a great team performance and got the crowd roaring the team on after the setback of an early Jon Wilkin try for the Saints.
With luck on his side he could have ended with four tries and he was a constant thorn in the Saints side and his halfback pairing with Campese is turning into one of the best in Super League.
Campese is currently on a one-year contract and the club needs to get that sorted quickly as there are rumours flying around about interest from Wigan Warriors.
The defensive effort was also the best of the season by far. Lunt made 47 tackles and his front row partners 30 each, while the starting back row of Blair, Horne and McCarthy made 27, 33 and 37 tackles respectively and with Larroyer and Donaldson contributing 28 and 23 tackles from the bench.
Saints pounded the Rovers line at times and just could not break them down until the frantic final few minutes when two tries were scored off the back of forward passes from Burns. Fortunately, Burns missed the final conversion to level the scores and Rovers got the win they fully deserved for a superb and committed performance.
Talking of Burns, he will certainly know this morning that he was in a tough game of rugby league on Friday night. He was on the end of some big hits and rough treatment and, to be fair, he put a couple of good shots in himself. He was booed by the home fans constantly and missed that last-second conversion to give his side a point – not the most joyous of returns for the former crowd favourite.
The really big news of the day was that the club has pulled off the massive coup of signing Jamie Peacock to the newly created position of football manager from 2016.
Peacock will end a stellar career of over 500 appearances that started with Bradford Bulls in 1999 and will end at Headingley after 10 years with the Leeds Rhinos. It has included a phenomenal 15 major medals as well as a superb international career with England and Great Britain and being awarded the Man of Steel trophy in 2003.
Peacock is hugely respected in the game and is an intelligent man and accomplished motivational speaker and his role is expected to include contract negotiations, club strategy, recruitment and pre-season training camps among other things.
There is no doubt that having Peacock’s experience at the club will help Hull KR improve from top to bottom both on and off the field and I am very excited about what he could bring to the club. It certainly is a massive show of intent by the club and could draw in the best of young English talent as well as being a draw card for top class players as well.
Leeds Rhinos are one of the most successful sporting organisations in the game and are an extremely professionally run outfit. Peacock has been exposed to the inner workings of the club for a long time and will bring tons of experience with him and he has also been studying towards a degree in sports management.
The fact that the Rhinos offered him a role with the club which he turned down to look for a fresh challenge is typical of the nature of the man – he could have quite easily stayed in his comfort zone and probably had a job for life with the Rhinos. But now he can use all of his experience to help Hull Kingston Rovers become a challenger for the major titles.
Hull KR Chairman Neil Hudgell should be congratulated for getting this deal across the line and I cannot wait for the arrival of this modern day legend of the game.
The night was topped off by Castleford Tigers beating Hull FC 20-14, and the Robins will go into next Thursday night’s derby against Hull at the KC Stadium on a huge high. We all know that form counts for nothing in these kind of matches, but bring it on!
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Queensland often has the right mix of generational talent, playmaking brilliance and these nuts-and-bolts players that bind them together like glue.
There are few greater sledges you can give an NRL team than calling them pretenders but the Cowboys will not be contenders until they…
The Parramatta coach was furious with his side after coughing up a first-half lead and going on to lose 44-16 in an embarrassing second-half…
Jamayne Isaako missed five out of nine conversions in a huge win over the Eels - with the Channel Nine team having some fun…
The Eels led 8-4 at half-time. They lost 44-16 in a Dolphins onslaught.
Who is this team and what have they done with the Dolphins? With Wayne Bennett consigned to his sick bed back in Redcliffe, the…
