‘Not good enough’: Tony Smith’s strong message ahead of Salford clash

Hull KR head coach Tony Smith has admitted his side’s start to the season has ‘not been good enough’ for the standards they set out.

The Robins currently sit tenth in the Betfred Super League, having won just one of their opening four matches.

Though it is early days, it comes just one season after they went within 80 minutes of the Grand Final.

Smith recognises the fall from grace but has highlighted his side will learn lessons and are capable of bouncing back.

“Our start to the season has not been good enough for our own standards,” he said.

“I think we were okay in the Castleford match but aside from that, we have not shown a good account of ourselves yet on what we want to be recognised for.

“In that respect, it has been disappointing but in terms of learning about ourselves and learning what we need to do, there are some really good lessons being learnt that will stand us in good stead for the remainder of the season.

“It will help us look back on our season and help us see how important these points are for us.”

Another point Smith made was that he wishes to see an improvement in individual performances in this Friday’s match against Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium.

He admitted that this is the main area they must address in order to improve as a team ahead of a tough run of fixtures.

“There are enough good players amongst the group and we just need to be more cohesive in some areas,” added Smith.

“That comes through a couple of individuals to perform to their levels they are capable of and that becomes contagious and we all affect each other that way.

“We probably have not had enough individual performances to make a good collective performance.

“Some of that is certainly down to the individuals but collectively, we have not found that cohesion but hopefully we will over the next couple of games.”