Hull Kingston Rovers and the reinvention of the wheel

Hull Kingston Rovers head coach Tony Smith isn't afraid to do things differently. He left his post at Warrington at the end of 2017 after 'falling out of love with the sport'. A break clearly did him a lot of good and he returned to Hull KR in the middle of 2019 and achieved his mission of keeping them in Super League. He now appears to be enjoying coaching as much as ever.

Smith has been a staunch critic of promotion and relegation. He knows about this from his time coaching Huddersfield and the difficult times they endured in the early 2000's. 

He made no secret of his joy when relegation was sidelined for the 2020 season. Whilst Hull KR tried in the early weeks of the season to chance their arm, since the season restart the style has been more pronounced.

In their first match since the restart against Warrington, they tried exuberant offloads and short kicks off amongst other lesser-used tactics. Hull KR's approach in that first game against Warrington was a bit too kamikaze. Whilst Warrington played well, Hull KR's errors were a contributory factor to a heavy 40-10 defeat. With their next three fixtures being against St Helens (twice) and Wigan, further heavy defeats were expected.

After the Warrington match, Smith told the media the following, when talking about the absence of relegation:

"It makes a huge difference. We’re more likely to see teams try to win games rather than try not to lose them, which makes for better rugby league. I find it far more entertaining than the stuff we’ve been dishing up for the last five years, the five drives and a kick to the corner."

It is unquestionable that Hull KR have tried to win matches rather than avoid defeat in all four of their post-lockdown matches. Yet, there was a subtle difference between their performance against Warrington and what we have seen since. Hull KR's style was still expansive, but more refined. They played quickly, in an off-the-cuff manner, but instead their offloads were calculated risks rather than hail mary plays.

That resulted in Rovers scoring three tries against St Helens in their late-August encounter. For comparison, St Helens had conceded just one try in three games beforehand. St Helens did have enough to secure a reasonably narrow victory, but Hull KR certainly gave an encouraging performance.

The next week against Wigan they stepped it up again. This time they beat the-then league leaders. It was no fluke. The victory was comfortable and by the 50th minute mark or so there was very little prospect of a Wigan comeback.

Then this week they faced St Helens again. This was a match away from home and they matched Saints for 80 minutes. Whilst Hull KR's attack and enterprising style has been praised and examined, their defence should not escape scrutiny either. St Helens had a huge territorial and possession advantage in the opening stages of Friday's game, yet it was Hull KR who absorbed it all and countered with the game's first try.

The game ultimately reached the lottery of golden point and Rovers lost out. It was a slightly flat end to an enjoyable game. I would need a whole new blog though to give my thoughts on the anti-climax of golden point!

Hull KR could not have had a tougher post-lockdown fixture list facing the league top three sides in all four matches. They have won one game and could have won another. Their next fixtures see the difficulty of the fixtures ease somewhat. This will give us a guide as to where the Rovers stand.

If they play like they have done for the last month, then they will win more fixtures than they lose before the end of the season. Tony Smith claims that the absence of relegation has given them the freedom to play rugby league how it should be played. The inference is that a relegation trap door leads to nervous, conservative rugby and a less entertaining product.

Leaving the never-ending relegation debate to one side, I wonder what impact Tony Smith's experiment will have on the wider game? Before lockdown, with the threat of relegation, Hull KR's results were poor. Since lockdown, they have improved immeasurably.

If Tony Smith can evidence that a more confident, expansive and entertaining brand of rugby is the way to challenge the bigger teams and elicits more victories, then other Super League sides may replicate it. Even if they don't, there is no reason that Hull KR should not continue to play that way in 2021.

If (metaphorically speaking) sticking out your chest and taking perceived stronger opponents on rather than trying to limit damage succeeds, then maybe Hull KR will not be the same side beset by relegation worries, as they have been since 2016. They may have found the formula to rise from a malaise.

Tony Smith and Hull KR have started an experiment in the most experimental of seasons. If the initial results are positive, then maybe come 2021 we will see a more lasting change. The playbook of how to survive relegation may be torn up and the rugby league wheel may have been reinvented by Hull KR's mad professor!