Hull Kingston Rovers winger Kieran Dixon admits that his spell out of the team and on dual-registration with League 1 side Newcastle Thunder made him appreciative of how lucky he is to be a full-time rugby league player.
Dixon made his first appearance for the Robins last week since their Challenge Cup defeat to Oldham – but he returned in style, scoring a hat-trick as KR thrashed Wakefield to keep their top eight hopes alive.
That time out of the team saw him sent to Thunder on dual-registration to keep him sharp if he got a chance in the Robins’ first-team again, and he insisted that it “opened his eyes” to how lucky he is.
“It was a while since I played even before then and it was just nice to be back on the field playing a game. It opened my eyes a bit to how lucky we actually are to play at top level.
“The boys up there give everything they’ve got; they go to work during the day, train at night and give a lot. But this is our job day in day out.
“I appreciate that and it opened my eyes a bit; it showed me what I’m working for.”
Dixon admitted that it has been a tough few weeks – but said that he felt his hard work put in whilst out of the side paid dividends on Thursday night.
“I got a call on Wednesday night saying I might be playing and I’d need to prepare myself and then got the call midday today saying I was playing as a few of the boys had pulled out,” he said.
“Obviously I feel sorry for the boys that had to pull out but that was when my time to step up was and I think I managed to do that.
“I’ve not been in the side for a good few weeks and I’ve been putting in the work in training and righted a few wrongs that I needed to do from those games.
“The stuff that I’ve been working on in training is paying off for me and obviously that paid off today and I managed to get on the scoresheet.”
