Hull KR’s plaudits have become over the top criticismJames Smailes Head of All Out Rugby League and Yorkshire sport at Reach plc
06:00, 04 Mar 2026
Maika Sivo of Leeds breaks through the Hull KR defence
Have you seen the one where Hull KR are being criticised for having made the worst start by reigning Super League champions for over a decade? If you haven’t, how about the latest odds for the Grand Final which show KR’s chances drifting slightly behind new universal favourites Wigan Warriors?
Surely the Las Vegas memes have made it into your social media feeds?
It feels like wherever you look the knives are out for the treble winners and world champions. When you’re at the top in any sport, you’re there to be shot at. That’s the nature of the beast, as the Robins are finding out.
This week sees Rovers in a normal Super League matchweek routine for the first time in a long time with no Broncos, no overseas trips or major final to contemplate in the days or weeks ahead.
What’s key is they discover that normality as soon as possible, embrace it and return to the – in this case at least – relatively mundane preparation of a regular season Super League match.
If there’s been a hallmark to the success of Rovers in the past couple of years under Willie Peters, it’s their predictability of performance and fitness, which provides an almost metronomic way of tackling the season. One win after another after another until the end goal is reached.
Yes the match in Vegas was a let down, by some distance. It was also just two points dropped and some of the fallout from the game feels over the top.
They’ve done well to shut out the noise in the past and KR must do that again, because while two defeats from two games is far from a crisis, three losses from as many games is not what we’ve come to expect and what the leaders at the club will demand from Rovers.
Searching for motivation is not hard, and neither is searching for form. They may have crapped out in Vegas, but KR’s players only need to look back a week earlier to the sensational win over Brisbane Broncos and the near-perfect rugby they played for 60 minutes or so to secure the World Club Championship.
Huddersfield Giants, also winless in the league, won’t just roll over at home and let KR take the points, but at the same time it’s a game that provides an opportunity. With the same opposition to be played the following week in the Challenge Cup, the rhetoric around the champions may have changed significantly in the next two weeks.
For now, to quote the King of Vegas, what KR need is a little less conversation and a little more action!