LUDACRIS
I need someone to explain to me how calling for the new coach’s head makes any sense? I’d also like to know why our coach is responding to this in the local media. What on earth is going on?
Let’s talk about this for a minute: we bring in this bloke from the other side of the planet, give him the remnants of a declining side and expect him to perform miracles in his first ever head coaching job? Do we have a heightened sense of self-worth or something?
Ludacris.
Whichever way you look at it, we’re not a top 4 or 6 side; in fact, I’m having a hard time trying to convince myself that we’re actually a top 8 one. Face it; we’re an average side who will do very well to make the playoffs this year!
I’m as frustrated as the next supporter. We have high standards at Hull KR and sometimes that can cloud our judgement. Sometimes we say things in the heat of the moment that we regret afterwards. Suggesting that we remove Craig Sandercock from office is one of those moments.
I predict big, big changes at the end of this season – but the coach will certainly not be one of them.
During the week I said that if we wanted to get something from Friday’s game then our kicking game and chase needed to be good. Unfortunately in the first half it wasn’t and we found ourselves 20 points behind before we knew it. Going to Wigan is always tough but the first 40 was very disappointing. We were on a hiding to nothing really.
The old ‘we didn’t play for 80 minutes’ cliché rears its ugly head again.
I’d just like to extend my best wishes to Phil Bentham too. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It was a freak accident and I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery.
We did our best in the stands, didn’t we? To see everyone going at it when we’re getting thumped is always great to see. It is hard because you want your club to do well and when the chips are down you can either go back into your shell and man it up and go louder. For that we should be pretty proud of ourselves and to hear, ‘Sandercock’s Barmy Army’ being belted out after half an hour only serves to show that we have his back!
If you’ve bought one of those £1 Rufus masks and have a camera. Send us your pics to editor@hkrawaydays.co.uk and get following us on Twitter at @HKRAWAYDAYS. ‘Rufus Watch’ is up and running. You may just end up on there!
WAHKR!
A WIN IS A WIN
It was hardly champagne rugby but 2 points is 2 points. Dave Hodgson has taken a fair bit of stick recently for reasons I cannot fathom, mainly because he has spent a bit of time out injured and still has 6 tries in 7 games. And it is for that reason that I’m really glad he got a hat trick on Sunday.
For the first 15 minutes, London’s right edge couldn’t control us when we attacked down that side. We kick off and you see Hodgson, Welham and Dobbo sprinting off on the left and you would be forgiven for thinking about our defensive frailties. But they handled it well enough and I’m quite pleased with that.
One thing I’m not too pleased with was our discipline. It seems that any decision given against us is met with a chorus of boos from our fans, even if the call was correct. Sunday was no different; both of their first half tries were fine in my eyes –they happened right in front of me- but James Child did allow too much lying on at times.
And that is another thing, 300 people less turn up to watch us play London Broncos than what we had against Catalans in the cup. You play 2 teams who do not have an away support, in the cup you charge kids a fiver, in the league we do not. What is all that about? We play on a big council estate, why has the club not offered kids tickets for a fiver to subsidise a non-existent away following?
We’ve got a week off now, which will give some of the injured lads an extra week to sort themselves out. Ryan O’Hara completed 15 minutes in the reserves and I can’t wait to see a State of Origin player in a Rovers shirt.
My man of the match was Michael Dobson. I know the sponsors give him the gong every week regardless but on this occasion he was head and shoulders above everyone else, his kicking boots have been returned and he had a hand in an awesome try at the start.
MAYBE IT'S MY FAULT
I’m not a fan of the Challenge Cup. If it wasn’t for the part time and amateur clubs who gain much needed revenue by playing against the Super League’s elite I’d scrap it all together. I know that won’t sit well with many but I find it unnecessary. I understand the history and the romance of the cup and all the rest of it, I just don’t like it. That’s just me.
And it is for that reason that I’m not overly disappointed in having been knocked out by a French side that had a blistering first half, and a blisteringly poor second. I suppose the weather played havoc for the side attacking to the north and this showed because we were kept scoreless in the first and the Frogs failed to score in the second.
In midweek Sam Latus said we’d need to get off to a good start and I reckon that that lad must have had his tea leaves out because as it turned out it was a mundane first half that undoubtedly led to our defeat. To be fair, the first half was excruciating to watch from our point of view. It got to the point where it was damage limitation really.
The second was a complete one-eighty on the first. We cleaned up our act on the penalty front a bit and, with the wind at our backs, managed to attack their line. When Scott Taylor, who has three tries in two games, barged his way over you could sense that we’d given ourselves a chance. When the returning Blake Green scored what I call a ‘signature’ try of his own, the east stand woke up a bit and we started to see a bit us open up a bit.
We brought in players of Mickey Paea’s size to try and barge over close to the line and he did that. Catalans have a large pack so it was pleasing to see us match them, and Mickey took about 3 of their lads with him on the way to the line. I’ve got to hand it to the cheeky chappy Josh Hodgson for his try too; their markers fell asleep and I don’t think you will see many tries like that scored this season.
I don’t often criticise referees but I didn’t think Steve Ganson had a great game. In fact, ever since I tried to explain the finer points of officiating to him in Cardiff last year, he’s been pretty poor for us so maybe it’s my fault. He gave a couple of penalties against us for having our hands in at the play the ball and then missed it when Catalans were guilty of the same offence. All we want from the man in the middle is consistency and I don’t think yesterday’s game got that.
Ah well, onto London now. The club who got less than 700 to their home win over Dewsbury at the weekend. We need one thing: a win.
WAHKR!
SUCCESS IN SALFORD
To summarise, the last month or so has been quite a difficult period for us. We were turned over by a Bradford side whose club are in all sorts of financial problems and a week later we lose away to Catalans. After coming from behind to beat a Huddersfield side that are flying at the minute we lost at the death in Castleford. We blew the derby game because of a second half no-show and thankfully came through a poor game in Salford with a valuable 2 points.
Sometimes it is quite difficult to put your finger on why we can be a bit inconsistent but on this occasion it is simply: too many errors, too many penalties.
Yesterday we gave away 4 consecutive penalties and allowed Salford time to build a bit of momentum; a decent side would have capitalised. The way Luke Patten walked through our three-quarter defence to sprint 40 yards for his try highlights defensive frailties that many fans have been talking about for some time.
It is fantastic to see the young lads doing so well though. The most notably is of course Scott Taylor who is probably the best player at the club at the minute. Against Salford he made good yards, was sound in defence and scored 2 crucial tries. My mate disco dancing Phil B said we have, ‘A pack of forwards full of hungry English talent topped off with overseas class!” I think he is dead right.
We saw Dave Petersen play on his debut yesterday and I thought he was excellent. He showed himself to be energetic, always looked for the ball and tackled well above his weight. I'd have given him the man of the match nod. He took his chance with both hands and deserves another first team shot. All the best to him.
The atmosphere was pretty good as well. I like to blow our own trumpet because I do believe we have the best followers in the league, but with great support come’s great responsibility and sometimes our behaviour has been called into question. If we consider ourselves to be the best, we have to keep a check on the way we act – tarring everyone with the same brush happens regularly, such is the stereotypical nature of the general public.
Craig Sandercock promised us some consistency and in time I think we’ll start to see that coming through; I don’t like this anti-Sandercock talk. I’ve long called for Radio Humberside to conduct ‘idiot tests’ before allowing people on air. I’d extend that to the Hull Daily Mail as well before they print letters, although I’d hate to lose some of the comedy genius that the ‘Rant at Rawson’ fella prints. The Gaffer has taken on a side that are not top 4 or 6 material; in fact, we’ll be in a battle for the top 8. It is evident that he’s playing around with his squad at present, so get used to it for this season. It just goes to show how big of a job he’s actually taken on.
Next up is the Frogs in the cup. I’m not much of a fan of the Challenge Cup if I’m honest, but for a tenner you can’t go wrong.
WAHKR!
LIKE A DROWNED RAT
You know it is cold when 26 players, having just completed 40 minutes of rugby, sprint off the pitch to the dressing rooms to no doubt to sit on the radiators and get the hot chocolate sachets out.
The weather was so bad that Craig Sandercock said Shannon McDonnell came off looking like a drowned rat!
I had a couple of quick pints with Pedro at the top of the east stand and after a few gulps my hands were already frozen; it is a good job I didn’t buy a pie or I’d have given Farmfoods a run for their money!
Honestly, I didn’t think much to Widnes at all. They were the lightest team I’ve seen visit Craven Park since we were promoted and arguably their biggest lad, Anthony Mullally, who must be dullally for coming back from Oz to play in that by the way, couldn’t get them going at all.
I put this down to two things. One being that Michael Dobson’s kicking game in atrocious conditions was excellent. We kept turning them around when looking for good field position and it also contributed to a really good Linc Withers try when attacking their line. The second was our defence. As the Gaffer alluded to in his press conference, we’re getting’ bagged for leaking points so to keep Widnes scoreless was encouraging.
Sometimes I wonder if the people responsible for awarding the man of the match award take enough notice of what’s going on to make a reasonable judgement. Fair play to Michael Dobson, he had a good game but I thought Josh Hodgson, who has four tries from as many games and Scott Murrell were excellent, but I’d have given the gong to Craig Hall.
He attacked well, linked up with Dobbo brilliantly and was sound in defence on the edge. He is prone to the odd brain fart every now and again but overall he looked the part. He even scored one of those exciting ball-on-ground, kick-and-chase type of tries that every fan loves because they hardly ever come along.
Hally even re-tweeted his own song on Sunday night and is now a proud follower of HKRAWAYDAYS on Twitter – good lad!
There’s a different feel about the place now and the players look comfortable and appear to be really enjoying themselves. I like the way we’re coming along and hopefully we’ll continue to build against Bradford on Saturday.
WAHKR!
GAZ FROM GEORDIE SHORE
Without Dobbo, Green and Galea, playing against St Helens is always going to be difficult and I thought we did well in a see-saw type of game that was a spectacle for neutrals but a nightmare to watch for defensive coaches. I’ll tell you what, tho’, it is some achievement to score 36 points against a side like theirs when you’re missing your first choice half backs. Unfortunately, we also conceded 36 and that is where we need to look to improve.
St Helens started like a proverbial house on fire whilst we seemed to burn down. We all fear the worst when we’re trailing by 14 points in as many minutes but the Gaffer seems to have instilled a resilience and never-say-die attitude at the club, and when we battled back with 3 tries of our own, the crowd started to rock and we finally kicked into gear.
I’m really pleased to see David Hodgson, one quarter of our ‘ginger quota’, grab a try but at first I thought Kris Welham had just got there. You can understand my confusion. Speaking of Chesney, he’s just picked up where he left off last year and grabbed one himself a little later. My personal highlight of the game was Shannon Mac’s try off that Craig Hall’s chip over the top in the first half. He won the foot race against Paul Wellens and just got there just in time. I keep mentioning the fella whenever I talk to people because I think we’ve got a really exciting attacking full back – and I hope we can keep him past his initial one-year deal.
We do have strength in depth too… no, hang on, we used to have strength in depth. Unfortunately young Hodgson and Linc Withers picked up knocks; we might actually end up with Scott Murrell and Rhys Lovegrove playing in the middle together – now that would be interesting. I reckon that is 7 players nursing a variety of injuries but I bet not one of them has texted Hudgell yet.
Hopefully they’ll be reet for the Wire on Sunday though.
One of our major plays and something I wanna see more of is utilising the big lads close to the opponent’s line. If you have players the size of Mickey Paea and Con Mika bursting onto a drop off then we’re gunna see a lot of tries from the forwards this season. For St Helens I thought Lou McCarthy-Scarsbrook got through a mountain of work when he was on for his stints, James Roby looked good around the ruck, especially for his try and Francis Meli off the tele grabbed a brace too.
With about 90 seconds remaining the most ridiculous happened – the blummin’ clock broke down. St Helens have the ball attacking into our half and when Mickey Paea is pulled up for an obvious head high tackle, the hooter sounds and they get away with a draw from a penalty kick. There is an independent time keeper who is in constant contact with the official on the pitch so you can cross out foul place, especially on our own patch. I reckon a draw was a fair enough result as it was for such an exciting game as well.
He said Craven Park is the hardest ground to kick goals as soit is a good job that Gaz from Geordie Shore left his kicking boots at home or else we would probably have lost that one.
WAHKR
PITCH-URE OF HEALTH
The main topic of discussion en route to Ponte Carlo centred round whether the game would actually go ahead amid freezing weather conditions overnight in west Yorkshire. After a couple of inspections before midday the pitch was declared playable as we sauntered into the Liquorice Bush for a few pre-game lemonades and as I was armed with a hip-flask of my favourite tipple, this was always going to be a cheap day out.
Having sat in a hammock in Camp Bastion messaging his mates back home on Facebook for the past 3 months, we also had the pleasure of welcoming back Private Matty Evans who has just returned from a tour of Afghanistan – what a hero!
And after 3 months of telling her boyfriend that he can’t come to Rovers on Adge’s fun bus it seems our Giggsy has given in to her significant other as he joined us on the road trip for the first time – that didn’t take long.
Eh, Wakey have a funny old way about doing things. They have a couple of turnstiles for children and concessions and just the one for adults so it took a good 20 minutes to get into the bloody place. Belle Vue isn’t one of our happiest hunting grounds, or bogs, as this weekend showed. Before Sunday, we’d only won once in five games and conceded 116 points, so the players’ efforts under pressure to come away with the two points deserves much praise.
When Craig Sandercock first took over he said he’d be looking at tightening up the defence and to bring more consistency to the side. Whereas the latter will come as the season plays out, our goal-line defensive performance was outstanding, particularly on the edges. There seems to be so many options that the team are utilising that we have not seed before n’all: Craig Hall moving from wing to the middle when we are in possession and them back to the wing when defending is a good example of this.
What has been such fantastic preparation for the new season has been hit with injuries to Blake Green and Ryan O’Hara, and now to have lost Michael Dobson for a month, is obviously going to put a big dent in our pivot options. However, it is a testament to the side that we can call upon Hall, Lincoln Withers and Scott Murrell to shift positions to help the side out; at one point we stuck Murrell on the blummin’ wing – I didn’t think I’d ever see that!
Last season we were out-dominated in the forwards quite regularly so it was great to see Mickey Paea and Con Mika help give us an excellent platform to build our attack on – and they both scored! You can see Josh Hodgson is really improving as a player and the Gaffer’s faith in him is shining through. Rhys Lovegrove grabbed an excellent try to tie up the game as well.
My early impressions are that we have the makings of a really good side. There are circumstances out of our control at present but Sandy has said that when things like injuries happen opportunities become available for those on the fringes to get in on the act. It really is Robin eat Robin for first team spots.
Our support in numbers was exceptional once again and I reckon there must have been close to 2,000 of us there. You can see how much we can spur the lads on; did anyone notice Shannon Mac turn and ‘fist pump’ towards us when we forced a knock on close to our line?
We may have to ride it out a bit in the next month or so but if we stick together, we’ve got every chance of doing well.
WAHKR
OUR COCK
Hey up there, I am back for a third year as chief rambler and can’t wait for the start of the new season. I hope you are as excited as I am.
Eh, I do miss our trips out to places like Fev!
You can’t beat the plastic cups of coffee for a quid with the help yourself table of milk and sugar, tomato sauce and mustard that sits next to the food van that is advertising pie and peas, even though they have ran out of pie and peas. Then you find your place to stand on the crumbling terraces of an age-old ground in freezing wintery conditions to watch our first pre-season trial game whilst talking to the locals adorning their blue and white shirts who finish every sentence by calling you ‘Our Cock’.
After taking a relatively youthful squad over to our namesake’s place in west Yorkshire, the first team got a run out against Wigan at home. After spending 15 minutes at the turnstiles waiting to get in, I realised the east stand was only half full. So why the hold up? They dosy buggers didn’t print out enough tickets! The Wigan fans were shepherded into the top corner of the Dodger stand and made a right racket all game. I love it when away fans come over and give us lot a run for our money. Armed with flags and banners, the stewards tried to keep them sat down but every time they turned their backs, the Wigan lot stood up and continued to party. Eventually the stewards just gave up. Good work, boys.
And finally our game over yonder at the KC against the undesirables. Personally, I thought we looked sharp, pass the ball out wide quicker and with more precision. Shannon Mac was outstanding and his effort in the lead up to David Hodgson’s try was sublime. Kris Welham lamped Reece Lyne one in the lead up to our second try and the kid didn’t get up until we’d kicked the goal and everyone walked off for half time oranges. I thought that Tony Martin showed a good bit of skill for his try but Rich Painter made a good point when he said Martin hasn’t been the same since he killed that burglar! It is always nice to get one over on the old enemy and to do it quite convincingly leaves me quietly confident of a good season ahead.
So I’ve been fillin’ me time away from rugby by goin’ down to watch the old ice hockey at Hull Arena. If you haven’t been to a game then you are definitely missin’ out. We’re big supporters of Hull Stingrays and although the season isn’t quite going to plan on the ice, it is an excellent team sport and rivals rugby league for intensity, speed and quality of play; if you’re lucky you’ll get a few good punch ups too, which is always great, and they only get binned for 5 minutes for it. Brilliant!
Any road, 2011 is very much the rear-view mirror, we have said our heartfelt thanks to Justin Morgan and last season’s out-going players but now we must look forward because it is all change at the newly-sponsored MS3 Craven Park. We begin the season under the guidance and leadership of new coach Craig Sandercock with what is likely to be a new-look team. We have signed no less than 13 new players and 4 of them have graduated from the club’s junior development programme. This takes our total number of home-grown players on full time professional deals to 14 and that is something we should be very proud of.
After confirmation that we would have a new coach in place for the new season, the club were pro-active in their approach to squad strengthening during that intervening period and secured the signings of Huddersfield’s prolific try-scoring winger David Hodgson, hooker Keal Carlile and utility Graeme Horne, Crusaders’ out-going hooker Lincoln Withers and prop forward Ryan O’Hara plus young George Griffin from Queanbeyan Kangaroos.
Once Sandy had taken charge, he brought in Newcastle Knights full back Shannon McDonnell and prop Constantine Mika, as well as Canterbury Bulldogs forward Mickey Paea to form what I’m sure we all hope will be a formidable from line. I wish them all the very best but reserve a special mention for local lads Aaron Ollett, Nick Johnson, Chris Heil and James Green. Good luck to them all.
Now I’m not daft enough, no matter what you say, to think we’re going to storm the top 4 or owt, but on paper we have a stronger squad than we had last year and it’ll be interesting to see how the new fellas link up with the current squad and get used to what the new gaffer is bringing. It would be unfair of people to expect the new-look side to go out and start bashing the big teams up but I reckon we’ll be up challenging for a respectable spot in the top 8.
It has been a pretty good start to the new year for us rowdy lot n’all. HKR AWAY DAYS managed to raise £200 from a Justin Morgan-signed shirt auction and donated the proceeds to ‘Adge’s Buses’ for the sponsorship of big Jordan Cox. This enabled Andy Brown’s Hedon bus to sponsor a second player for next season in Richard Beaumont. I would like to thank both Kev Ferriby and Liz Brown for their successful bids because they have made a real difference. As a result, I went to the sponsorship do, which was fantastic, but drew the short straw and had to sit next to Coxy. I guess that serves me right for turning up late.
On top of this GIGGSY GOT A BOYFRIEND!! Now they say all that good things come to an end and in this case it looks like we won’t be having anymore Giggsy gags on these pages; well, until Daley gets rid of her that is! Can I also extend my congratulations to East Hull Growler and his fiancée Kate; the soppy guffer only proposed on the top of a mountain in France, didn’t he? And she said yes, which is unbelievable really. Meh, well done lad, I’m saving for the Vegas stag do already.
The beginning of 2012 has ushered in great news with regards to the new north stand development – it is official, the diggers have finally moved in 15 years after the planning application was first submitted! In just over 8 million or whatever quid’s time we’ll have a brand-spanking state-of-the-art all-seater stand for all 20 of Wakefield’s fans to sit in!
The club also successfully raised £60,000 needed to send 21 of our young players to Australia for 3 weeks. The lucky sods. Martin Dunn said he wants them to take in as much as possible while they are out there, and Andrew Webster has arranged a trial game for them against a young Wests Tigers team.
News has reached us that Lee Marshall, more affectionately known as the man behind the guise of Rufus the Robin has decided to fly the nest. He will be forever remembered for his water bomb and gun antics in front of the east stand and his brilliant mimic of the Cadbury’s Chocolate drumming advert he performed on the half way line a couple of years ago. An integral part of the match day entertainment, Lee has left a big beak to fill.
If you haven’t done already, check out the new and improved HullKR.tv website (link). For a season pass price of £30 supporters can gain access to behind-the-scenes footage of pre-season training, match highlights from the juniors upwards, interviews, and a range of new and exciting features as well as classic games from years gone by. I know we all love watching our 42-6, 21-4 and other memorable successes over our noisy neighbours across the river in recent years. They never get boring!
Here is to the new season, the year of the Robin!
WAHKR