The Robins go to Warrington Wolves this afternoon as they look to book their spot in the Super League play-off semi-finals
Jez Litten will hope to be a star man for Hull KR this evening at Warrington Wolves(Image: Getty)
Hull KR won’t be looking for revenge or retribution against Warrington Wolves this weekend, they’ll simply be heading into the play-offs with a determination to set the record straight.
That’s the message from Rovers hooker Jez Litten, who is keen to see his side hammer home the reason why they enter this stage of the season as the reigning Super League champions.
Rovers head to the Halliwell Jones Stadium this evening having lost to Warrington in July and August. Those defeats were costly when it comes to KR’s aim of securing a home play-off game at the very least and it’s fair to say that they were far from themselves in those contests with ill-discipline and defensive errors making the difference on both occasions.
The Robins have struggled against the biggest teams on a few occasions over the second half of the season, with defeats against Wigan Warriors, Wakefield Trinity and Leeds Rhinos being particularly frustrating, as well as the two defeats to Sam Burgess’ side.
The east Hull outfit head into the play-offs with plenty of doubters then, but Litten is convinced they can prove them wrong as they chase a third Old Trafford outing in as many years.
“We want to prove a point that we’re a top team and we can play well in these big games,” Litten said. “We’ve shown that in the past couple of years, it’s knockout rugby and we’re looking forward to it.
“It was a massive game when we played [Warrington] at home and we were in that game for large parts, we just had a few discipline errors and inside shoulders that we usually pride ourselves on.
“When you do that against top teams you’re going to get beat. They showed us that they’re a top team by capitalising on that so we want to fix that up and prove a few points this Saturday.
“All the teams in the play-offs are top teams and anyone can get to the Grand Final. We want to show that we’re the champions and we’re a champion team looking to go there and get the win.”
Motivation isn’t in short supply then and that’s before the upcoming end of an era is taken into account with Willie Peters heading back to the NRL when the season comes to an end. Sending him and the likes of Joe Burgess, Rhyse Martin and long-serving kit man Alan Fellows out in the right way is certainly on KR minds as they prepare to travel to Cheshire.
“We have a lot of special people leaving the club, a lot of staff who have been there up to 30 years who are the heartbeat of our team,” Litten added. “We’ve got Willie leaving who has transformed the club, so we want to send him out on a high but as well, we want to do it for ourselves and for the club and team, there’s a lot of things to play for.
“We want to replicate what we did last year and there’s one more trophy to go after.”