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When Ryan Hall rocked up at Hull KR three years ago with a fist-full of Grand Final rings from his glittering decade with boyhood club Leeds, he admits he initially struggled to find a connection to ignite the next chapter of his trophy-laden career.
“My grandma was from Goole, and that’s as far as I could go,” recalled Hall, who is preparing to pull on a Rovers jersey for the 106th and final time on Saturday when his club make their long-awaited Grand Final debut against quadruple-seeking Wigan at Old Trafford.
Four years later, it is clear Hall need not have worried about forging links with the red-and-white side of his adopted city. When he departs back along the M62 he will do so as a try-scoring idol of the rammed East Stand, celebrated not only in song but by a local lager re-named ‘Ryan Hell’ in his honour.
The 36-year-old winger, who is returning to Leeds, with whom he won six Grand Finals in the Rhinos’ golden era between 2008 and 2017, was not always convinced that his time at Craven Park would yield a seventh crack at the domestic showpiece.
“When I joined the club four years ago they’d won three games in that previous season,” recalled Hall, who had jetted home from a short-lived and unsuccessful spell in Australia with the Sydney Roosters without a club to his name.
“It was a very different team to the kinds I’d been used to playing in. I always knew there was the possibility that we could turn it around and be a good team. The probability was pretty low, but the possibility was always there.
“It was the human pull of this club that got me. The supporters are the heart of this club, it has a working-class background and we pride ourselves on being hard-working. You feel those ties and you try to draw inspiration from the community that you represent.”
Every step of the way, from the rock-bottom club Hall arrived at in 2021 to their nerve-shredding semi-final win over Warrington last week, Hall has been at the beating heart of the Rovers revival.
In June, his exploits almost lifted the roof off the famous old stadium when he barged over for two late tries against Huddersfield that equalled then surpassed Danny McGuire’s record and became Super League’s record all-time try-scorer with 248 to his name.
He gives short shrift to the sense of occasion, insisting the pitch at Old Trafford is no different to those upon which Rovers surged to their second-placed finish in the regular season, and underscoring his claim with a reminder of how he marked his own debut at the stadium in 2008 with a trademark try in the corner.
“I remember walking out for the first time with my chest out thinking, ‘I’m part of this team, I’m going to do my best to enhance this team and nothing is going to take away from it’, and that’s what I did,” said Hall.
It's great to be a role model. We don't always think about that so it's nice that kids will go back to school calling themselves Ryan Hall or Mikey Lewis. You've got to inspire the next generation because we want rugby league to be here for a long time yet— Ryan Hall
“A pitch is a pitch and the dimensions are the same. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t played at Old Trafford before, it doesn’t matter that you’re going to be playing in front of all those people.
“It’s not about the occasion, it’s not about being a deer in the headlights, it’s about us and what we do. We’ve played 27 rounds and a play-off game to get here so that’s what you draw on.”
If Hall does help Rovers pull off their first title win since 1985 he will leave the East Riding with his name emblazoned across the back of countless red and white shirts, not to mention a lot of empty lager crates.
“It’s great to be a role model,” added Hall. “We don’t always think about that so it’s nice that kids will go back to school calling themselves Ryan Hall or Mikey Lewis.
“There’s a massive story surrounding this game. It’s got everything in there. I might have played my last game for Rovers at Craven Park, but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve not finished yet.”
