The best Super League signing in 2024 has been…

Pre-season was spent talking about which Super League signings would make the biggest impact with names such as Brodie Croft, Luke Thompson and Nu Brown floated about. However, one man who went under the radar has proven to transform his team’s hopes.

That man is Niall Evalds at Hull KR. The former Castleford Tigers back was announced as signing for the Robins way back in the middle of the season last year so he maybe didn’t benefit from the pre-season buzz, but he’s gone on to be absolutely pivotal to Willie Peters’ side.

Hull KR made their move for Evalds back in August when he signed a two-year deal and extending that until at least 2026 will be one of the tasks high on the priority list at Craven Park.

So far this season in just 11 games, he’s scored five tries but more importantly, he’s made 15. That puts the full-back top of the assist charts and has helped contribute to the fact that Hull KR have scored the most tries in Super League so far this season with 61, meaning Evalds has been directly involved in over 25% of them.

QUIZ: Can you name these former Super League players?

Perfect Super League start for Niall Evalds at Hull KR

Niall Evalds got off to a perfect start at Hull KR as he scored on opening night, registering the first try of the 2024 season as the Robins romped the Black and Whites 22-0 at the MKM Stadium

He’d also bag another in that game to kick his season off with his first brace since September 2021, highlighting how many games the pacey back had missed through injury in recent seasons.

That’s one of the reasons why he came in under the radar with Evalds having only played 17 games across the 2022 and 2023 seasons, scoring just two tries during that time as well.

Despite that, Willie Peters believed in him, crediting his versatility as one of the assets that led the Robins to pull the trigger and sign him up. The Australian said: ’We wanted to bring in someone with real speed and versatility for 2024 and we’ll definitely be getting that with Niall (Evalds).”

Hull KR have certainly got that in Evalds with his versatility tested early in the season.

Move to full-back unlocks assist machine Evalds

Despite that flying start in game one, the second and fourth games (missed round three) of the Super League season offered less to Evalds. He averaged just 12 carries for 65 metres and failed to make the desired impact.

The same was happening for Peta Hiku who, despite scoring two tries and making metres for fun, wasn’t clicking at full-back as had been hoped. Speaking ahead of his return to face former club Warrington Wolves in Round 11, Hiku explained that it was simply a “muscle memory” thing.

Hiku had pulled Willie Peters aside and requested a return to centre and with that Hull KR unlocked Evalds at full-back. With zero assists in his first three games, the 30-year-old has since gone on to register 15.

He now leads the league in that metric, ahead of the likes of Jonny Lomax and Brodie Croft, with Evalds registering an assist in every single game since the position change. His best game was his most recent with a whopping four assists to pair with his two tries.

Whilst the performance came against bottom-of-the-table London, it was a statement performance that saw him announce himself as one of Super League’s elite full-backs.

Plenty of Super League signings have delivered in 2024 but is there another player that came in so under the radar and has gone on to become so impressive?