Dean Hadley says Hull KR are chasing down the League Leaders’ Shield – and will make sure they don’t come up short on points difference. Rovers missed out on top spot to Wigan last year and also fell against Matt Peet’s side in the Old Trafford title decider.
But they are leading from the front this time around, holding a two-point advantage over the second-placed champions heading into Thursday’s trip to Castleford Tigers. And Friday’s 68-6 walloping of Catalans Dragons did wonders for their points difference taking it to a massive plus 334.
Ahead of Round 15 – already past the season halfway mark – Wigan are only on plus 295. Rovers visit them on August 15 in a contest which, if both sides continue in their current form, could go a long way towards deciding who clinches the silverware for top spot.
But second-row Hadley, 32, admitted: “If you go back to last year, the points difference was really close at the end. Every point matters. So it was really nice to score plenty of tries [against Catalans] and get a good points difference.
“The league’s really important to us. We’ve put ourselves in a good position and we really want to go after it so it was important that we did that.”
Last year, the Robins finished with points difference of 393 which was slightly better than Wigan [385] but it didn’t matter. Frustratingly, they were left knowing they would have won a first-ever League Leaders’ Shield if they’d managed just one more solitary victory.
Hadley, meanwhile, conceded being surprised at just how easily they swept past Catalans, given it was just six days after KR’s memorable Challenge Cup final win w days of celebrating their Wembley glory.
There were no signs of hangovers as they inflicted the biggest-ever defeat on the French club. Rather, Willie Peters’ side were slick, ruthless and relentless against humiliated Catalans who were shambolic on their way to a fourth straight heavy defeat.
Hadley conceded: “It was a different week and I’d be lying if I said we’ve had a great week’s prep’ and all that stuff. But credit to the boys. The way we turned up and the way that we started the game, we spoke about starting the game well and setting the tone and going after it.
“And the way we started did just that. I was surprised [by how easily Catalans fell apart] but credit to the way we went after it. It could have been a totally different game if we hadn’t started the way we did.
“Obviously they are in a difficult position at the moment, but for us it’s sort of all about focusing on us, controlling what we can control and that was about us turning up and performing.
“It could have gone one of two ways couldn’t it, after last week and the week we’ve had? We could have been a bit soft. But I thought the way we attacked the game from the start was awesome.”
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