Smith sets KR ‘final six’ challenge
TONY Smith senses an opportunity in the final few weeks of the Super League season, with the Hull KR head coach challenging his side to finish as one of the form teams.
Rovers have spent most of the season in the bottom two after failing to build on their opening night victory over Wakefield Trinity.
KR are 10th as they head into an intense period which initially sees them take on Castleford Tigers, Wakefield and Hull FC in the space of eight days.
The Robins will end their season with another block of three games against Warrington Wolves, Catalans Dragons and Salford Red Devils.
The derby clash sticks out but Smith is not looking beyond tonight’s meeting with Castleford as he targets a big finish from his players.
“I’m looking for six big efforts, one at a time,” he said. “When you put it all together it’s a big ask. Three games in eight days and you’ve got to do that twice.
“We’re breaking it down even further. We’ve got one game on Thursday and we’re going for it.
“After that we’ll come back together on Saturday morning and have training session together and we’ll pull together and go for it for Sunday.
“That’s how we’re going about it – six big efforts.
“We’re not getting carried away about anything but we’d like to finish the season strong. If we do that, whatever it is – as long as it’s not near the bottom – we’ll be happy.
“We can do that. We can go ahead and change where we finish on the table. That’s our focus.
“But only by concentrating on one game at a time.”
Rovers ended last season in 11th place, only avoiding relegation on the final night by virtue of a superior points difference.
Smith went into this year with a younger squad and will be watching on with interest in the closing stages of the campaign.
“There’s a huge incentive not to finish last or second to last,” he added. “If we could finish ninth that would be great progress. If we could finish eighth that would be unreal. We want to make as much progress as we can.
“Our season is like a game of rugby league. You play through to the 80th minute and we want to play through to the last round.
“Wherever we finish, we can take stock of how we’ve done once the season is finished. But I’d like to be amongst the form teams by the end of the season.
“That would tell us a whole lot about ourselves, our progress and the education we’re giving these young people.
“I’ve got a lot of young people that we’re developing for their future, whilst trying to take care of our present. We’ll see how far they’ve come over the next few weeks.”