FOR the first time in 40 years, Hull Kingston Rovers are the champions.
I wasn’t even thought of, back in 1985, when the club last won the league but I have been around to see the depths of despair, the highs of this weekend and more.
Relegation, promotion, a Challenge Cup final loss, a Grand Final loss will now pail into, not insignificance, but the background as the club celebrates its greatest year.
This really has been a plan and yes, the head coach, his backroom staff, everyone behind the scenes and the players have all combined to make them just the fifth club to win the treble.
Furthermore, a massive amount of credit for this should be given to the club owner Neil Hudgell.
At one stage Neil was going to walk away from his ownership, but never his support for the club which has been a massive part of his life. In recent years he has added a superb board of directors led by chairman Paul Sewell and CEO Paul Lakin who returned to the club.
Head coach Willie Peters was another masterstroke by the club, and maybe there were raised eyebrows with the appointment three years ago. However, as the new club anthem says, “give a little respect”, something the world of rugby league will now be giving Hull KR.
This game was always going to be a swansong for two of the game’s greats from both sides of the world in Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Micky McIlorum.
They were both brought in to add further experience to the squad and for triple Australian Grand Final winner JWH it was a fairytale finish.
The sight of him, standing on his own, in front of the 20,000 Rovers fans, who had made troublesome journeys due to traffic issues on the M62, was a sight to behold.
For McIlorum it was also a fitting finale especially, when it was revealed he played with a fractured ankle, again such is the stature of the man.
It was also doubted whether Mikey Lewis could perform on the big stage, but he certainly stood up and received over half of the media votes to take the Rob Burrow Award as player of the match.
However, there were another 16 players at this famous old ground who could have taken the award.
Tyrone May, alongside Lewis, put in a ‘dinner jacket’ performance as he teased and taunted the Wigan defence who rarely laid a hand on him and in doing so allowed Lewis to perform as he did.
Along with the back division they pushed Wigan back time and again, cutting holes in the opposing defence with some slick passing, even if the try which finally sealed ‘the treble’ came via a Joe Burgess interception a few minutes from time.
However the engine room and bench must take massive credit for laying the platform for what will be seen as Rovers saving their best until last. Led by skipper Elliot Minchella and the aforementioned Waerea-Hargreaves, helped by the other forwards, unsung heroes like Dean Hadley and James Batchelor to name but two, Rovers tackled their hearts out for the full 80 minutes.
Hull KR have been the best side for the full season. Yes, there have been some bumps in the road along the way. It took 77 minutes to win the Challenge Cup. The League Leaders’ Shield wasn’t won until the very last game of the season.
At Old Trafford on Saturday night there was no way they were going to turn up late for the last performance of the season. This ‘Band of Brothers’, as Minchella called them, were on it from minute one and they were not only rightly crowned league champions but created their own piece of history by being only the fifth side to take all three trophies.