A second heavy defeat at the hands of Leeds Rhinos in 2026 has seen Hull KR slip further away from their aims of retaining the League Leaders Shield with pundit Jon Wilkin citing two major reasons why the Robins have dropped down a level.
In 2025, Hull KR were near untouchable as they went and completed the treble and despite a shock result on opening day of 2026, they backed it up by winning the World Club Challenge.
Since then, many would suggest that they’ve not quite clicked with the loss to Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas being a huge blip and Friday night’s 34-8 loss to the same opponents was another blot on the test paper.
There’s no doubt that Leeds are the team to beat in 2026 but Hull KR haven’t really come close in either encounter and Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has suggested that there is some mitigation, namely the departure of leaders Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Micky McIlorum.
Wilkin pointed to the ‘calmness and composure’ that the pair added, but also queried the Hull KR defensive resolve compared to 2025.
He said: “We watched Hull KR last year and there was a time where it didn’t matter how long a team attacked against them, you just never got the sense they would concede and I don’t know where that’s gone and I just feel like they’ve conceded too many points this year.
“That’s what is different from last year to this year, that teams feel like they’ve got an opportunity against them now, whereas in 2025 they were just so clean and tidy you couldn’t break them down.”
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‘Top of the pyramid missing’ for Hull KR
As for why that defensive resolve isn’t necessarily there, Wilkin highlighted hunger as a key area with Hull KR perhaps unable to match their levels from 2025, whereas Leeds, after another year without silverware, have grown even hungrier.
Wilkin suggested: “Hunger is a big thing, that can change things can’t it? When the appetite to win, we’re talking about going back to back, to get even hungrier the following year, we spoke about that being the key.
“I think they tried really hard tonight but you don’t win just by trying hard, there’s so much more to it than just trying hard, we talk about effort areas and we get so carried away with it, that’s like the base of a pyramid and the top of the pyramid is missing for Hull KR at the minute.
“They do all the effort, they try really hard but they’ve just maybe not got the quality they had last year.”
St Helens’ forward Alex Walmsley, also working on Sky Sports as a pundit, agreed, adding: “Leeds beat them up tonight, Leeds beat them up and last year Hull KR was a team that beat the opposition up.
“I think they’ve got a lot of players to come back and I’m not for one second writing Hull KR out of this year, I think there’s enough quality and experience within that camp to bring it back but they got beaten up.”
With how good Leeds have been, Walmsley suggested they’re possible Grand Finalists, meaning Hull KR may have to overcome this rut against the Rhinos if they’re to defend their crown.
He said: “I think that’s going to hurt them, they’ve been beaten up twice by Leeds and I think the way we look at the way the season’s gone so far, the way Leeds are performing, the chance that Leeds are going to be at a Grand Final at the end of the season, Hull KR are going to have to beat them there.”
