Hull KR<\/a> were on a tear. They clinched a dramatic victory in the Challenge Cup Final, ending a 40-year wait for silverware with a Wembley win over Warrington Wolves.<\/p>\nThe Robins also lost just once in Super League during his four-month absence, a positive half of the campaign which made the difference in the battle for the League Leaders\u2019 Shield.<\/p>\n
\u201cMissing the Challenge Cup Final was tough,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the guys around me were the ones supporting me and pushing me through to this big occasion [Grand Final].\u201d<\/p>\n
That faith proved well-placed.<\/p>\n
Martin returned in time to help Hull KR complete a historic treble – Challenge Cup, League Leaders\u2019 Shield, and ultimately, the Super League Grand Final. It was a fairytale finish to a season that began with disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe medical staff, the programme they had for me and the support they had for me – we didn\u2019t have any setbacks and I was able to get back on the field when I was expected to,\u201d Martin continued. \u201cThey kept me going, and kept saying I\u2019d be playing in a Grand Final at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a nervy start for the Robins at the Theatre of Dreams, but Wigan Warriors squandered two golden opportunities for Liam Farrell and Bevan French – with Mikey Lewis forcing the mistake from last year\u2019s inaugural Rob Burrow Award winner.<\/p>\n
Wigan were then reduced to 12-men when Brad O\u2019Neill was sin-binned for a tip-tackle and when 2024 Man of Steel Lewis opened the scoring, the Robins hardly looked back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first one that got disallowed, it was very early on and we weren\u2019t sure how we were going to respond to that,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the ball goes your way a bit – those two disallowed tries – you find a bit of energy from that. What we were doing, we were doing right.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that 20 minute mark, we found our feet and got into the grind. I’m grateful that we didn\u2019t have 12 points against us, but we knew once we were in the game, that we were going to go toe-to-toe with them and to see if they could stick with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old has now also joined an elite group of Papua New Guinea representatives to win the Super League competition, and Martin hopes that his ultimate glory will help inspire the next generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d added Martin, who made his international debut for the Kumuls back in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, it gives some inspiration to some of the guys that are coming over here and some young kids back in Papua New Guinea that want to achieve something similar. That\u2019s all I hope for.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Martin, triumph is also a reward for years of sacrifice.<\/p>\n
He concluded: \u201cFor me, the sacrifices of six years of living away from my family – me, my wife and my two kids here – to play in this occasion makes it all worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Hull KR treble celebrated in souvenir special charting historic season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rhyse Martin reveals all on his first season with Hull KR, from his worst nightmare to Grand Final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20448,20372,5903,101,20373,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-208501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-challenge-cup","9":"tag-hull-kr","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-super-league","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Hull](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_OH903799.jpg\")
Hull KR’s Rhyse Martin with the Super League trophy at Old Trafford. SWPix.<\/p>\n