Irrespective of what happens on Saturday night, it’s been some year for Hull KR and club captain Elliot Minchella. The Robins have been the best team in the Northern Hemisphere this season and that is something that at the time of writing cannot be disputed.
They ended their 40-year wait for a trophy in June as they won the Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium and, after starting the year exceptionally quickly, they carried their form into the second half of the season to win the League Leaders’ Shield, too.
As such, after going so long without any major success, Willie Peters’ side have created history in 2025 and that can never be taken away from them.
That doesn’t mean they’re satisfied, though. They’re far from it, actually, with this Saturday’s Grand Final contest against Wigan Warriors giving them the opportunity to record an historic treble and become just the fifth team to win at Old Trafford in the Super League era.
That’s been the goal from the start of the year for KR, something Minchella makes no bones about, and the skipper is determined to see that realised.
“That’s the dream,” Minchella said when asked about the possibility of being able to call himself a treble winner.
“I want to lift the trophy on Saturday and win the treble. I’m not afraid to say that I’ve thought about it a number of times.
“We set out at the start of the year to win all three. We’ve got two so far, so we’re on track.
“But there’s obviously a massive obstacle in the way. For me, the two best teams in the competition are here on Saturday. It’s a fitting final.
“They’ll want to make their own history and we want to make ours. May the best team win.”
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Hull KR captain seeking career highlight as journey recalled
Minchella is more than aware of what a Grand Final win would mean to east Hull and the Red and White army that will be cheering KR on either at Old Trafford or elsewhere.
After all, he’s been with the club since 2020, he’s been through the dark days of claiming the wooden spoon and he’s played a key role in helping the club take step after step towards achieving greatness.
Minchella’s journey isn’t unique, and Jez Litten, Dean Hadley and Mikey Lewis were at the club before the loose-forward. But, as he approaches a second Grand Final, he finds it hard not to reflect on the path KR have taken to the top.
“It would be the highlight my career,” Minchella added. “In weeks like this you do naturally reflect on where you’ve come from and what you’ve been through but it’s bigger than one person, this. It’s about the whole community and organisation and I’m just a small part of that.
“We all have our own journeys, we come from different parts of the world, we come together and we’re Hull KR.
“You probably appreciate it a bit more with what you’ve experienced. We spoke about the wooden spoon and those days were pretty grim. There wasn’t many highlights to take but it just makes you appreciate this even more and we remind each other of that and what we’ve been through and then the new players coming in are aware of the history but obviously we want to go and create history together.
“It’s not lost on us, we’re grateful but we got here with a lot of hard work and that’s clear.”
What makes Saturday’s game even more compelling is that they will be taking on Wigan yet again, having lost to them 12 months ago. Rovers know they can beat the Cherry and Whites, having done so in August, but they’re also aware that Wigan have their own opportunity to make history with a three-peat on the line for Matt Peet’s side.
“I think we’ve been the best two in the comp all year and we’re deserving to play on this great stage. Whoever wins will create history for their club and their organisation and I hope it’s us,” he said.
“We’ve met in many big games now and that’s probably a credit to us really I think, to be able to challenge. What an historic club they are and what they’ve achieved over the years, for us to now be competing for them for trophies is a massive privilege, but we’re not happy with just competing.
“We want to win and we respect them, but we want to beat them as well. I guess it shows the progression of the club that we are competing with clubs like that now. Nine years ago we got relegated and now we’re here for the second year in a row, but we’re not happy to be here, we want to win.”
