Thirteen new faces coming in and sixteen leaving. Thats one hell of a revolving door, Only time will tell on how well they all integrate and gel as a squad, Will certainly help now Blair & Kelly started training today.
Now with the exception of Josh Hodgson I feel we've recruited exceptionally well. We've signed quality defenders to match the signing of attacking players with pace and flair, Creative halves that if they remain injury free have the potential to be very special indeed.
My worry though is whether Keal Carlisle can step up and give the halves a good enough platform to work with and whether we have enough grunt in the forwards, Bailey will add considerably to this. I'd have loved another aggresive forward but still I'm relatively happy to go into the season with what we have and feel we have the potential to hover around the sixth place marker, That's if we can get off to a decent enough start.

I'm Certainly looking forward to seeing Ken Sio & Albert Kelly in Rovers shirts and believe those two have the potential to be real quality additions, So hopefully come October 2015 we can be talked about in real high regards. followed by a settled end to the season with not much recruitment at the end of 2015 and it could give us a real platform in 2016 to kick on and make people sit up and take notice of Hull KR.

As we know though been fans of Hull Kingston Rovers is rarely how we plan it, They'll be ups and downs and it will be the usual rollercoaster ride so lets buckle up and see how it all pans out in 2015.

Up the robins.

Looking forward to every single minute. Home and away. Catalans and Newcastle booked. And only 4 weeks until we see some of the boys play

Bricking it..... Way too many changes in one off season, and I do take your point about building a platform for the year after. However, isn't there a sense of de ja vu with 12 months ago? We simply cannot keep turning over the volume of players and hope to move forward.

Having said that, I renewed 3 passes last week, already booked a hotel for Newcastle some time ago (no Catalans trip next year unfortunately) and will probably attend 2 pre-season friendlies as I'm desparate for a rugby fix once Christmas is out of the way. My worry is that my enthusiasm will dry up quickly if the sum of the parts is somewhat less than promised.

I await the arrival of a certain poster to call me a pessimist. Rally round..........

Really looking forward to the new season. If we gel then we have the makings of a top 6 team. Agree with the comment about sio and kelly,sio especially could well be an absolute star. I'm gunna settle for top 6 and a winning trip to wembley

up the robins

I feel we could be a surprise packet,our recruitment this season I feel is pretty good and the much maligned mike smith has done a cracking job. As with all teams keeping players healthy is the key and surely we must be due a decent run with injuries and a decent draw in the cup.
Iam the eternal pessimist,but feel we have the best balanced squad we have had since the glory days of the 80s.Fingers well and truly crossed.Come on you reds.

I live in hope that we gel quickly and then we might yet get back to Wembley no way will we win the comp but top 8 and a Wembley trip will do lets

Anyone know the details of the Mike Smith interview in the league express?
Can't be bothered to go and buy it.

He didn't get the job unfortunately.

Rookie coach and 13 new players, so it is harder than usual to know what to expect. But at this point it has to be anticipation. It'll be tough, but hopefully more good than bad.
Be interesting to see if clubs game the new system. If you're 10th after 18 games, do you go flat out for the 8 or hold something back to minimise the risk of relegation?

Anticipation gets my tick



The quality in the back-line and infusion of mobility in the pack will see Rovers being a different animal next season, but the key will be the team's fortitude to consistently defend, something that has been missing for too long.

Much is being said about Sio and Kelly but I reckon Goulding and Dixon are prize assets and Campese's presence will be a major threat, but it is Rovers pack which impresses me most - it has a steadying ingredient of continuity in Weyman, Walker, Green, Larroyer, Horne, Cox and Carlile with the added grunt of Bailey and Allgood. The other signings of MaCarthy, Burke, Donaldson and Boudebza are intriguing in that they are sort of unknown quantities who bring competition to an already tight knit pack.

Also, I believe it will be Jordan Cox's time to finally cement his place in the team; he showed visible signs of a return to form last season, and now that he has had the shoulder fixed I reckon he will play a big role in getting Rovers on the front foot.

Of course, the fear of taking time to 'gel' or doing a Salford will be a main concern for many but I'm not overly worried mainly because Blair and Kelly have already forged a partnership which is a major plus and something forgotten about at times. It is no coincidence Rovers signed these players as a pairing and IMO it was a clever strategy.

However, there is concern over Rovers head coach, mainly due to the lacklustre approach in his opening 9 games in charge. I didn't expect him to set the world on fire immediately but apart from the Saints game he didn't seem capable of instilling confidence when the play-offs were still an achievable target. I might be overly critical of Chester here but it has to be said, although the appointment of Poching does instil me with confidence and maybe he will help/guide/nurture Chester in his first full season with what needs to be recognised as his 'own' squad.

One final point, praise needs to be given to Rovers Board for backing Chester to the hilt. They have placed their trust in Chester and if three things happen next season - Chester sorts out the defence, Carlile/Boudebza come good, and Campese stays fit and healthy - then 6-8th is certainly possible

I think it'll be a struggle this year, expecting them to gel immediately is a big ask. Hopefully we will show fight and desire and hopefully some flair with our new back line. One of the biggest worries is the injury front, a lot of this is down to luck but in a way you make your own luck and I don't mind relying on luck but there is a difference between hoping against bad luck as apposed to hoping for good luck, in the signings of Kelly, Campese and Dixon the die is set that they wont feature in every game if past seasons are anything to go by so we are hoping for good luck which is a dangerous game.

On the Chester front I think its harsh to judge him on last season, he picked up a bad hand, the team looked a disparate set of players that had internal issues and were already happy to finish outside the 8 and move on. All he could do was address the issues when he had chance and he's done that in some style. He will be judged on the full season but the gelling of the team will add pressure. The one crticism I would have is he should have dropped Burns once it was clear he was on his way, he looked an unsettling influence to me and needed ousting, still easy to say in hindsight and he'd no doubt have been slaughtered for doing so.

I'm just hoping next year is at least interesting because the Sandercock years have had me plain bored, in some ways a gutsy battle would be far preferable to the so what of the last few years.

9th & 10th get 4 home games in the middle 8 series whereas 11th & 12th only get 3 home games. So there is still an incentive not to hold back even if the top 8 gets out of reach.

Every minute counts as they keep telling us.

Quietly confident we will avoid all that.

I think it will be hard to make the 8 this year with all the new signings, especially when your up against so many settled squads.
it's definitely going to be an interesting season though.

yep and I for one can not wait bring it on

I'm normally on the pessimistic side, but for some reason next year can't come quick enough. Speed in the backs (for a change), grunt in the forwards, and good playmakers. There's more positives than negatives for me.

For me it is the first time since finishing 4th we have had a real balance in the squad with the quality across the squad. We always seem to have good pack, no halfbacks/ good halfbacks, no back line etc and I feel the quality is high throughout every position this year bar hooker.
However, this is the entertainment business after all and we will definitely be entertained! The challenge this year is there are no gimmes, so you have to be on your game every week mentally and physically which we as a club struggle to do. If we can stay clear of injuries I expect us to surprise a few though.
Looking forward to it, a cup run would be fantastic starting with a cheeky visit to a Whitehaven/keighly/Batley etc and 4 days in sunny Spain for the Catalans trip. If we can get CP back into a difficult place and make it intimidating for opposing teams instead of moaning about the ref as our main source of noise that would be fantastic n all! The board have backed chessy to the hilt and deserve our backing even more. Roll on 2015 rrtr!

The team on paper looks very good, but as pretty much everyone has mentioned, getting that many players to gel is going to be a difficult task. Our backs look exciting and our forwards look like they should be able to hold their own. I can't see us been as poor as the last few seasons, the clear out was certainly needed. I'm thinking 7/8 for us this year.

Cas. managed quite well with 10 new players.

Just renewed my season ticket & I did consider not having one this time, After a think & a look at the squad I am actualy quiet optomistic. I dont have much concern over Chris Chester as coach as he is the first coach we have had who has spent his whole career as a full time professional & has played under some very good coaches espescialy at Wigan. He should know how to organise & prepare a top team, but time will tell. As for the team, if all gells well they could go well I dont think top two but anywhere from third to last is possible (I think we will to make the top 8, 4th at best). What I am happy about is that the club are giving the two hookers we have a chance & that excites me, they wont have to cary the team on their own like Josh had to last year as we now have a lot more experianced options in the halfs (if they settle) lets hope a few of the fringe youngsters get a chance as well.

I'm not happy one bit with our options at hooker, really my only doubt about the squad. As for lack of experience at half back last season, I couldn't disagree more.

I'm not happy with the hooker options either but there is a chance that they step up and make a good fist of it. I'm hoping Robinson sees this as his chance to grab the position and progress.
Our half backs last year had experience but one of them was a maverick who played to his own tune and the other wasn't strong enough to deal with the other and wilted in his shadow.
This year I think we have potential leadership where last year we had none whatsoever. This was our biggest failing, no one was there when the going got tough, hopefully that will be rectified this year.

That is what I was trying to say & I agree 100% Burns could turn a game on his own but I feel he disrupted the team & Josh Hogson tried to get the team going with little support, If the new halfs play as they can the young lads at hooker wont be isolated as Josh was this year.