Hull KR

Hull KR ‘going after everything’ as forward reveals ambitious target

by
Peter Smith
February 11, 2025

Hull KR forward James Batchelor says last season’s Grand Final runners-up are “going after everything” this year.

The Robins finished second in the 2024 Betfred Super League table, behind Wigan Warriors and were beaten by the same team at Old Trafford.

Those near-misses came a year after coach Willie Peters’ side lost the Challenge Cup final to Leigh Leopards in golden-point extra-time.

Rovers began their competitive season with a 44-2 victory at Championship outfit York Knights in the Challenge Cup last Friday and kick-off Super League at home to Castleford Tigers seven days later. And Batchelor insisted they aren’t prepared to settle for second-best this time.

“It was tough to take a couple of years ago, coming up just short and feeling we should have won,” the former Wakefield Trinity man reflected.

“Missing out on silverware last year was disappointing, but I definitely feel we have got it in us to win something this season.

“For us, with what we’ve got in this group, every single trophy and every single game is a target and we are going after everything.”

Batchelor is a specialist second-rower, but spent time playing in the middle of the field against York. Rovers have a new star prop in ex-Sydney Roosters powerhouse Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, but Batchelor stressed he is happy to have a go there if needed.

“I think they said they needed a bit of punch in the middle, so they took Jared off and put me on,” he joked.

“Willie said in the week he might look at putting me there. We’ve got a lot of competition for places and I think Willie has said he’s trying out a couple of different things to work out what his best combinations are.

“I think they say once you go in [to the front-row] you can’t get back out! I’ve done a few bits in training and at the back end of last year.

“If a couple of middles go down at some point in the year I might end up having to play big minutes there. I don’t mind it, as long as I am out there, I am happy.”

The victory at York was “a good win”, according to Batchelor, but he warned more work is needed.

He said: “We got exactly what we knew we thought we’d get, with them coming out of the blocks pretty hard.

“It’s early in the season and there’s a few things that need to click in attack, but we expected that.

“We worked hard, we did what we do every week and it was good to see the new boys have bought into that.

“York are a good Championship team and it was always going to be tough, especially early on, but I thought we were pretty professional and went about our business in a good way.”

York went ahead through an early penalty goal, but Hull KR achieved a pre-match aim of keeping their tryline intact.

“That’s something we talk about every week,” Batchelor confirmed. “We chase a zero in each half and the game as a whole.

“They took the two so it’s not a zero, but there were no tries and I think at one point we defended 17 plays in a row on our tryline, so that’s the pleasing part.”

The Robins began training later than most of their rivals, after reaching last year’s Grand Final, but Batchelor admitted it is a relief to finally get the new campaign underway.

“It’s good to get back out there,” he stressed. “Pre-seasons are long and tough and when the games come back round everyone’s smiling a bit more.

“Everything at this point in the season is about improving week to week. There’s a lot of things we want to improve, even some of the things that went well [last week] we can do a bit better, so we’ll be working on that every week.”