Hull KR v Hull FC: Time for Black and Whites to stand up for Tony Smith, says Brown

Reasons for hope: Fa’amanu Brown scores a try in Hull FC's sole victory of the season to date against London Broncos. A second one against Hull KR today would be nicely timed. (Picture: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com)

The old city rivals meet this lunchtime with the Airlie Birds at their lowest ebb going into the fixture for many a year.

Having lost 22-0 on their home patch to Rovers in the season opener a little over six weeks ago, the prompt renewal of the rivalry finds Hull with just one win to their name all season and on the back of two defeats in which they conceded 50 points.

The spotlight, therefore, is firmly on under-fire FC head coach Tony Smith, who sparked a Rovers revival half a decade ago before crossing the city divide without much success to date.

Hull KR celebrate their victory over Hull FC in the opening game of the season (Picture: Olly Hassell/SWPix.com)

For 29-year-old New Zealand international Brown, it is time his players stood up to be counted.

“The attitude is right among the players. It’s not the coaches, at the end of the day it’s us, we’ve got to do the job,” said Brown.

“The last two weeks the staff have shown us the improvement areas we need to work on, which is effort areas, and realising that this is our full-time job. If we have that perspective we’ll be all right on Friday.

“No one likes losing, it’s been tough the last two weeks with those two results (Leigh and Huddersfield).

“We’ve had to have a refresher on ourselves, have a look in the mirror to see if our attitude is right, our intent is right and we can bring it on Friday.

“If we can bring that from the start I think the game is winnable.”

With his status as one of the more experienced members of the group comes greater leadership responsibilities and it is something that Brown - an off-season recruit from Newcastle Knights in the NRL - is happy to shoulder.

“We have a young group, there’s only a few older heads and it’s just trying to nurture those young boys coming through in how to deal with adversity and this is the first time some of these younger boys have played against men so we have to teach them how to deal with and overcome adversity,” he said.

“Helping these young boys bounce back from adversity will build resilience for the rest of the year.

“It’s up to older boys to have those one-on-one conversations with the younger boys, checking on them, making sure they’re in a good headspace. If they do feel like they’re slipping off a bit, sometimes they need a kick up the backside. And that’s the same for us, knowing we can get complacent when we’re in that team every week, we’ve got to have that accountability for ourselves too.”

Brown had an eventful start to life in a black and white shirt, thrown straight into a Hull derby that they lost without scoring a point, and then controversially getting sent off for a clash of heads with Warrington’s Ben Currie.

Staying the right side of the rules will be key if Hull are to have any chance of slowing Rovers down today.

“I remember my debut well, it was a crazy experience, a lot of lessons learned from that,” said Brown.

“With how our season’s gone with suspensions we’ve got to stay composed, keep our heads in those under-pressure moments.

“We’re not giving ourselves a chance when we’re playing with 12 men so for us it’s about being disciplined, holding the ball. When you look at the top teams like St Helens and Catalans, they complete at a high rate and it’s important we complete our sets to give ourselves a chance.”

Rovers, by contrast, go into the game on the back of a Super League win at Huddersfield and the sweet revenge of a Challenge Cup victory over Leigh Leopards, the team that beat them by a point in last year’s final.

But Rovers boss Willie Peters is not taking anything for granted, especially having suffered defeat to Hull in the derby at Craven Park last season.

"I think it gives them more motivation, to turn their season around against their rivals, there's no better way to turn your season around,” said Peters.

Rovers have announced that academy prospect Leo Tennison has signed a new deal until 2026.

Peters said: “Leo has worked extremely hard to improve all areas of his game, which is why he’s being rewarded with a new two-year extension.

“There’s no rush in terms of expectations as props usually develop in their mid-twenties.

“However, if Leo continues to develop like he has in the past year, playing first team rugby in the near future is certainly not out of the question.

“The main focus for Leo is to continue training at the standards he’s set as that will fast track his chances of playing regular first grade. Leo is a quality person.”