KR’S Vete so impresed by Garratt and Halton
HULL KR new boys Frankie Halton and Tom Garratt have the potential to surprise a few people in 2022, according to team-mate Albert Vete.
Both players have joined the club after impressing in the Championship in the 2021 campaign.
Halton - a back-rower capable of playing in the middle - starred for Featherstone Rovers on their way to the Million Pound Game, while Garratt was named Dewsbury Rams’ Man of Steel, one of six awards for the towering prop.
It has been a change of pace for both men at the start of pre-season as they settle into a full-time environment for the first time.
But Vete has already seen enough to suggest Halton and Garratt will crack Super League.
“I’ve been really impressed with the boys that have come in,” Vete told the Mail. “They’ve fitted in really well with our systems and plays.
“Frankie has had a bit of a calf injury so he’s been really limited to what he can do but looking at his build and lifting with him in the gym, he’s a strong guy.
“From what I’m hearing from the boys, he’s going to be a weapon for us this season.
“Tom is shredded. He’s a big, tall front-rower with a big motor on him. He’s going to be good for us.”
Vete has been training alongside his team-mates from the start of pre-season in contrast to the last one, when he and Brad Takairangi arrived six weeks before the start of the campaign.
With Jordan Abdull and Korbin Sims set to link up with the rest of the squad in the next week or so, Vete believes Rovers will benefit from the extra time as a whole group.
“We’re going to have a lot of time training together on the field which we probably missed at the start of this year,” said Vete.
“You can’t shortcut or fake those training minutes. You need them for combinations.
“We’re going to have a lot of time to build. Those new boys are going to get more used to our calls and how things work.”
The Robins have several players recovering from off-season surgery but they have all been involved in some capacity in recent weeks.
After playing alongside Elliot Minchella only once in Super League last season, Vete is excited about being in the engine room with the loose forward.
“We’ll hopefully be getting Elliot Minchella, Dean Hadley and Matty Parcell out of the rehab group soon so that’s more to add to our squad,” said Vete.
“I’m really looking forward to Elliot Minchella coming back. He’s looking really good, so sharp.
“I was gutted I didn’t get to play with him last season because I really think he would have made a big difference. He’s going to be good for us next year.
“The boys have told me that he killed it in 2020. I’m really excited to see Mini back.”