Hull Kingston Rovers head coach Chris Chester believes the club’s aspirations depend on the fitness of halfbacks Albert Kelly and Terry Campese.
Both impressed in their maiden year in the competition, although the pair missed a lot of action between them, with Campese not featuring since the beginning of June.
However, following Campese’s return to training, Chester is hopeful that he can keep his halfback pairing injury free in 2016.
“The key to us being successful is to keep the two best halfbacks in the competition, Kelly and Campese, fit and out on the field,” said Chester.
“If we can do that then I’m sure we can upset a few teams. Continuity is going to be very important. In recent years we’ve made big changes, but this year we’ve made minimal adjustments.
“We’re proud of our achievements last year. We made the Challenge Cup final and knocked off some very good teams on the way.
“It has made us hungry to get back again for this season, and who knows what will happen.”
Chester has just overseen the fourth week of pre-season at the Robins, with the vast majority of his squad in training from the beginning.
It is in stark contrast to last year, when a number of factors restricted the opportunities for the squad to train as a whole before Christmas.
The results have been encouraging for Chester so far, and he is confident that the quality of training will benefit his side throughout the season.
“It’s the first time in a very long time at this club where we’ve had all the boys together so early,” he said.
“If you look at last year we signed some boys late on and some didn’t arrive until after Christmas. This year we have the opportunity to get a lot of work into the guys before the break for Christmas.”
