Smith: We aim to limit chances of injury woes
KR COACH PLANS FOR JUST ONE FRIENDLY
HULL KR are set to play only one friendly ahead of the 2021 campaign after a nightmare preseason experience at the start of this year.
Rovers played two games in January and lost players to injury in both run-outs, with the first friendly against Wakefield Trinity particularly costly.
Mose Masoe sustained a careerending spinal injury inside the opening minutes at Belle Vue and fellow co-captain Weller Hauraki later left the field with an ankle issue which sidelined him until mid-march.
Dean Hadley suffered a compound thumb fracture against Featherstone Rovers the following week, although he only missed the opening round of Super League after making a miraculous recovery.
Tony Smith will take no chances next year, with the KR head coach determined to go into the new Super League season with a healthy squad after avoiding any off-season surgery.
Rovers are facing at least 28 games in the space of six months and can ill afford another damaging pre-season as they aim to avoid another relegation battle.
Smith believes friendlies do more harm than good.
“Without looking too far into it I think we’ll go with one friendly into the new season based on some of our experiences in the last little while,” he told the Mail.
“We’ll have enough games coming thick and fast throughout the season.
“We’ll probably do a couple of internal sessions and one friendly in terms of getting ready for the start.
“The injuries had a massive influence on our season in the end. We only had the couple of friendlies but we’ll probably limit our chances of injuries even more.
“In my mind, I’ll be thinking about some internal training contests and probably one external.”
One game will feel like a luxury for players who went into the restart cold in August.
For much of that lengthy period of inactivity, players had to keep away from the training ground as they worked on individual programmes at home.
The outlook is brighter as KR prepare to return to Craven Park between Christmas and New Year, with a coronavirus vaccine set to be rolled out from next week.
Super League last week announced that the 2021 season will begin on March 11, leaving Rovers with two and a half months to prepare together.
“It gives us some clarity and allows us to do some planning,” said Smith.
“We’re happy to know about what’s going on and that we’re now able to put some plans in place.”