‘Every moment matters': Hull KR bidding to end 40 years of hurt in Challenge Cup final
For a while around the 1980s, it must have felt like the good times were never going to end for Hull KR: Challenge Cup winners in 1980; winners of the old Premiership in 1981 and 1984; champions of England in 1979 and then again in 1984 and 1985.
Legends like Roger Millward, Gavin Miller and George Fairbairn – men who are still revered on one side of Hull to this day – at the heartbeat of one of the finest sides in British rugby league's history. But then, nothing. Darkness. One final defeat became two; two became three. There was relegation to the second division twice and then, in 1995, into the third tier 10 years on from their finest hours.
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Related: Wigan secure back-to-back titles after Bevan French's stunner sinks Hull KR
Crowds dwindled to under 2,000 and Rovers flirted with administration and financial disaster on more than one occasion. But in recent years under Willie Peters, they have re-emerged as one of the game's leading forces, making the Challenge Cup final in 2023 and last year's Super League Grand Final.
Saturday's meeting with Warrington at Wembley in the cup final will be their third major final in as many years, but for all of the good surrounding Rovers, the one thing is missing to cement this squad's legacy is a piece of silverware. For 40 years, Hull KR have failed to win a major trophy; a point of ridicule on the west side of the city, and an agonising drought on the other.
Warrington Dufty; Thewlis, King, Tai, Lindop; Williams, Sneyd; Vaughan, Powell, Yates, Holroyd, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Interchange Ratchford, Crowther, Philbin, Harrison.
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Hull KR Broadbent; Davies, Hiku, Batchelor, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Litten, Waerea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Whitbread, Minchella. Interchange McIlorum, Tanginoa, Brown, Luckley.
Referee L Moore.
This weekend should be the moment that wait ends. Hull KR are the best team in Super League in 2025, and are heavy favourites on Saturday. But Wembley has already left a scar on this squad with their golden-point defeat by Leigh in the 2023 final, and the prospect of history can weigh heavy on the shoulders when the stakes are at their highest.
'There will be a time when I'm not here and I'll look back on how good these days were but it will really mean nothing unless there is a trophy in the cabinet,' their captain, Elliot Minchella, explains. 'We understand where we're at and what we've got at stake. Nothing can drive you more than experiencing what it's like to lose at Wembley. Six hours on a bus back to Hull … it felt like someone had died.'
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Minchella stands on the verge of becoming the first Hull KR captain in a generation to achieve what others have failed to. But he is just one part of this impressive Rovers squad with the England half-back and reigning Man of Steel, Mikey Lewis, New Zealand great Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and full-back Jack Broadbent others to watch.
The presence of Waerea-Hargreaves, one of the NRL's finest-ever players, should give Rovers added confidence they can get over the line at last. He was signed for moments like this, and the pain of their recent final defeats also adds a layer of determination. 'We might not have won those finals in the last couple of years but we learned a lot of lessons from them,' their second-row forward James Batchelor says.
Getting on for 20,000 Hull KR fans will be at Wembley, and few would deserve a moment of success more than Rovers' owner, Neil Hudgell. He has poured millions into the club over the past 20 years, kept it alive through some dark times and is now witnessing the rebirth of what he saw himself in the 1980s: a thriving Hull KR.
Related: Warrington's Paul Vaughan: 'We didn't deliver last year so have to take this opportunity'
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Hudgell, who has worked tirelessly as the lawyer of the victims of the Post Office scandal for years, would be quick to insist this is not about him. But Hull KR would not have reached this point today without his support. This club is intertwined with its community in east Hull in a way few others are, and success this weekend could have a revolutionary impact beyond the four walls of Craven Park.
'When I moved to Hull, I underestimated what this club means to people,' Minchella says. 'You can't walk around a supermarket without someone asking you what's happening at the club and you have to embrace that, because people care. What we do on the field has a massive impact on the lives of people. Every moment matters for the people in this city. It defines their week.
'We try to represent the people of east Hull with the way we play. We never give up and we work for everything. I know what it'll do for the local area if we can win. It's time for us to go out and do our job now.'
The walls of Craven Park are adorned with the images of those legends from 40 years ago but this club is in desperate need of a new set of heroes to worship. For Millward, Miller and Fairbairn in 1985, read Lewis, Minchella and Peters in 2025 if the final goes the way many expect.
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