“I thought we turned the corner a bit today” – Tony Smith dissects latest Hull KR loss and sends hopeful message to the fans

Hull KR’s recent struggles continued this afternoon live on Channel 4 as they lost to Catalans Dragons 20-8.

The Robins were gutsy but their recent attacking woes persisted. It’s now 12 points in 320 minutes for the once free scoring Robins all of this coming after Tony Smith confirmed he would be leaving at the end of the season.

After the game, Smith responded to his fourth loss on the spin noting how the extra injuries made things tough for his side.

“We lost a couple, we had three in the head bin at one stage which makes it a bit tough,” Smith told Channel 4, “They’re a big team, and you need on hand and all your subs as well.

“They wore us down it’s a bit of attrition today. I thought the effort was there from all my boys. I thought they put a good shift in and were trying their backsides off but it wasn’t to be.”

He also gave an update on the three who had HIA’s in the shape of Dean Hadley, Will Dagger and Matty Storton the latter of which returned to the field: “I know I’ve got three head knocks, fortunately we’ve got a week off. There’s a mandatory 11 days now with a head knock which is the right thing. We need to take care of all our players.”

Smith also noted that his side are struggling to take their chances but insisted that improvement was around the corner: “We needed to take a couple of those [early chances]. It’s a bit of where we’ve been I suppose but I thought we turned the corner a bit today in the way we went about it and there was a bit more energy at times that we needed. If we keep digging deep after our week off there will be a spring in our step.”

Lastly, in a message to the fans he said: “We’re trying our best, the players are trying their best. We all hurt together and work hard together. We’re just going through a bit of a tough time at the moment but I saw some signs of things turning there.”