How Hull KR compare to Super League’s best teams with Robins on course to make history

Hull KR are on course to potentially record one of the greatest league campaigns Super League has ever seen.

Whatever happens over the final few months of the season, it’s been a season to remember for the Robins. Willie Peters’ side claimed their first trophy since 1985 as they won the Challenge Cup at Wembley Stadium last month, beating Warrington Wolves through a last ditch Tom Davies try.

Their Super League campaign so far has been quite simply remarkable, too, winning 15 of the 16 games they’ve played. The loss to Wigan Warriors in April is the one blotch on KR’s record, and having won the cup, it’s the one match they haven’t won in all competitions.

Apart from that game, though, they’ve shown astounding consistency, setting a pace that their competition simply hasn’t been able to live with. As a result, they sit four points above Wigan, their closest and only real challengers for the League Leaders’ Shield, and on the brink of making history.

There are still 11 league fixtures to be played of course, with KR having to travel to the Brick Community Stadium for what will be the most eagerly anticipated clash of the season so far. But, right now, it’s hard to look at KR and think they aren’t getting better.

They’ve won their last three games by an aggregate score of 150-16 and while Leeds Rhinos have been great this season, Rovers will be hot favourites to claim the two points on offer once more on Sunday.

Peters’ outfit currently have 30 points in the bag and that gives them the potential to collect 52 by the time the play-offs come around. That total has never been reached in a 27-game season.

In fact, 44 is the biggest points tally accumulated by any side over a 27-game campaign, with Wigan matching that feat last season, having hit that number themselves in 2010, with Warrington Wolves doing the same a year later.

Rovers need to win eight of their remaining fixtures to surpass that number and that looks more than achievable.

The total of 52 points has been hit twice by St Helens in 2018 and 2019, with the former being a 30-game season and the latter being achieved over 29 outings. Justin Holbrook’s side were dominant throughout both campaigns and after following through to win the Grand Final, they will arguably go down as the best side we’ve seen in the summer era.

They have a long way to go, but by matching that figure in fewer games,  KR would reasonably have a right to be in the conversation for that mantle, completing a double in the process before the play-offs get underway.

Bradford Bulls hit 51 points in 1999 while Castleford Tigers (2017) and Leeds Rhinos (2004) have both won the league on 50 points. However, both Bradford and Castleford had 30 games to play, while Leeds had 28 which gives them a slightly higher win percentage.

When it comes to win percentage, KR’s currently stands at 93.75. That means that hypothetically, if they can stay on their current trajectory they would better anything we’ve seen before. The 2019 Saints side managed a win percentage of 89.66, while the 1998 Wigan side won the league with a win percentage of 91.3, which is the current record.

That Saints team were dominant beyond anything Super League has ever seen, winning the league with a 16-point deficit over their rivals. That certainly won’t be achieved this year, Matt Peet’s Wigan are far too good for that.

Of course, to achieve all of the above, KR have to keep winning. They’ve won 11 in a row in all competitions at the time of writing and extending that run to 22 will be quite the challenge.

They’ve shown they are more than capable, though, and they’ll be favourites to win at least 10 of those games, with the trip to Wigan perhaps providing the one exception.

Indeed, even if Rovers were to achieve all of the above, it would ultimately mean very little if they failed to then kick on and win the Grand Final in October. The best teams win the big one at the end of the season and that’s something Willie Peters and everyone at Hull KR will be more than aware of.

Hull KR v Leeds Rhinos team news as stars return for Willie Peters