With the sold-out signs up again and Craven Park now purchased, Hull KR are clearly on the rise.
But chief executive Paul Lakin hopes it is just the start of things to come. The Robins attracted a capacity 10,000 crowd for Friday’s win over Warrington and all tickets for next week’s Easter derby with Hull FC are also all snapped up.
They are now hoping for a bumper crowd against Castleford in Friday’s intriguing Challenge Cup quarter-final. Having just bought their stadium with the option of purchasing 15 acres of surrounding land, the East Yorkshire club feels it can look forward confidently.
“We’re very proud of that attendance the other night,” said Lakin, Rovers having previously only managed to sell-out a handful of times in the entire summer era.
“It was a big game for us. We’re really pleased with our figures - they’ve held up well and our memberships have grown from last year. We're going into another sell-out Super League game and not many clubs have two sold-out fixtures back-to-back.
“There is a feelgood factor around the place about how we finished last season, reaching the Super League semis for the first time. And to secure the stadium and the chance of the land around it, really gives fans genuine hope and promise we can grow over the next few years.”
Rovers want to challenge Super League’s big guns and end the days where they’ve been at the wrong end of the table. They were able to buy their ground due to the financial clout of long-term owner Neil Hudgell.
Lakin admitted: “Neil is an unbelievable owner and he still puts in a significant six figure sum. But we want to be able to get ourselves in a position with a newly-built West Stand and other facilities, so we’re no longer reliant on him and at the very least we break even.
“It is a genuinely landmark moment for the club. We’ve had development aspirations for some time with the stadium. But it’s like buying a house: if you rent a house you do very little with it. If you own it, you do it up. Now we can.
"And we’re really proud of being a community club in the heart of East Hull. We want to utilise it for community benefits like seeing kids using the 4G pitch if we secure one of those."
Lakin believes more Robins players gaining international recognition is also a positive for the club.
"We’ve never been in a position before where the younger players have a real opportunity to push for a place, like the Mikey Lewis’ of this world," he said.
"But Ryan Hall got a call-up back to England recently, Jordan Abdull was in the England team last year and Mikey made his debut for the England Knights at the end of last season.
"We have a couple of others in terms of Jez Litten and Matty Storton who will be pushing for a Knights place very soon. That shows the progress of the club that several players at both Knights and England level are in contention."
Meanwhile, head coach Tony Smith is out of contract at the end of the season but it's hoped there will be some clarity on his future in the next fortnight.
