Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella has admitted his preference would be for Rovers not to make major squad changes in the two games leading into the Challenge Cup Final.
The Robins head to the capital for a showdown with Warrington Wolves next month. The Wire are Rovers’ opponents this week and St Helens await after that. Last week, they took on Huddersfield Giants and it saw Peta Hiku and Sauaso Sue given a week off. Neither had missed a game before that.
When the Robins last played in the Challenge Cup Final, wholesale changes were made the week before this time around, with Rovers currently two points clear at the top of the table.
“We’ve spoken about it as a team that we want to go into Wembley on the back of winning games,” he said. “Last time we went to Wigan away and we rested quite a few players. I’m not the coach, I don’t pick the team, but I’m not sure if that will be the case this year.
“For me, I think it’s just momentum. It’s really hard once do have a week off to get back up, you do lose a bit of fitness and for me, I want to play every game. I think that the rest of the team thinks the same thing and it will be interesting to see what Willie wants to do.
“I’ve not spoken to him about it, but we’re in the lead and want to be top going into Wembley. That’s in our hands, if we win the next two, we’re top of the league going into Wembley and that’s a goal of ours.”
Minchella insists taking one eye off league matters before Wembley isn’t an option.
“We’re aware of it, of course we are, but if you don’t do what’s in front of you, you lose sight of it,” he said. “If you think about Wembley, you lose sight of what’s infront of you. The worst thing we could do is go and lose the next two, probably be second or third in the league, maybe lower, and then going into Wembley, you’re not flying.
“I don’t think we got too much wrong last time. I thought the build-up was good, we lost by one point, it was just a moment in a game and we end on the golden point. We should have done that differently, but we’ve got to learn from that. We’ve got another chance to go there and right some wrongs and come home with a trophy. But for me, it’s staying focused. Doing that is doing what you do, week in, week out.”