Hull KR winter sacrifice can now bring biggest reward possible as players sent key message

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com - Hull KR players celebrating
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A season which started with hope and promise is 160 minutes away from ending in unbridled joy and triumph, but for all the excitement that is building at Craven Park, the need to treat it like any other week is cutting through.

A huge opportunity awaits Rovers as the culmination and reward for months and months of hard work is close to bringing the biggest of pay offs. The big minutes successfully delivered by forwards in the most recent game, the 26-16 home win over Leeds Rhinos that set up this week's home semi-final, was an example of that.

Intensity that is similar to the play-offs has, usefully, been evident in several recent games, requiring fitness and mental strength on top of core skills. It's the values Rovers need this week, along with a desire to keep things as normal as possible

READ MORE:Hull KR's World Club Challenge options emerge with Australian adventure on the cards

READ MORE:Mikey Lewis recognition deserves to be followed by biggest of individual prizes

Rovers assistant coach Danny Ward explains: "In the Wigan game, in the Leigh game, they are going set for set and it's tough, and the ball's in play for a hell of a long time. You're almost waiting for one team to crack or one player to crack first. And a lot of that is down to mentality, which is driven in the tough days in pre-season.

"This is what we did all that work for in those cold, winter months. It was to reap the rewards at the end of the year. The boys are in great shape, credit it to the staff who have done that and the lads who have put all that work in to get better."

Asked about how they are going to approach this semi-final week, Ward said: "It's trying to keep the consistency of what they've done all year, the way they have attacked games. They have been in some tough battles and pushed through. You do need that.

"There's an extra little buzz about the place, an extra bounce in your step in training. But we are trying to keep it consistent each week in what we are doing, there are no big changes. There's nothing like 'oh, it's a semi-final this week, we've got to do things differently'. We've got to be consistent every week.

"Everyone is striving for that same goal of winning the Grand Final. Only one team can come out on top. There's a lot of mental aspects in that, of taking your body somewhere it's probably not been before, taking it to a dark place in a game when the ball's in play and you're in that cycle, in that tumble dryer, and it is tough and you're going to be facing adversity.

"It's about how you react. At some point you are probably going to be behind on the scoreboard, you can get a tough call, you make an error - and it's all these little things that you've been working on all year, about dealing with adversity. And then focusing on that next job when there's a lot of pressure on the games, a lot of noise, big fan bases and things are going off around you. You've got to keep it calm and focus on your job."

Ward has much experience of big games from his playing days - including Grand Final-winning and World Club Challenge-winning success - but his recent experiences prior to this role were at London Broncos and Castleford Tigers as a head coach, where he was often pitting his wits against better-resourced clubs. Now he is back working towards the biggest prizes again.

"I haven't been involved in the play-offs for a while, I'd been at the other end of the table, so I'm super pumped to get in these semis now," Ward says. "It's an awesome feeling. Teams are in form at the right time, it's exciting. We just try to bring that energy every day and control that energy and not get too excited and put all that good, positive energy into training, into videos, into meetings. These are exciting times for the boys. There are sore bodies and it's the end of the year but you don't feel that now, you just want to get to that end goal and that's what's driving us on."

Click here - Get the latest news on our Rugby League Live WhatsApp channel