'˜Approval' by predecessor Chris Chester good enough for James Webster to jump in at Hull KR

Webster will take control of his first game when Rovers, with just a point from their opening five Super League games, head to bottom-placed Huddersfield Giants on Sunday.

With Chris Chester sacked last month, and assistant Willie Poching overseeing their previous two games, the East Yorkshire club announced last Friday their former captain would be placed in charge for the rest of 2016 until a new, as yet unnamed, head coach arrived in readiness for next season.

But Webster – who had only recently taken up a role as head of the new City of Hull Academy – explained at a press conference yesterday that he only did so after contacting Chester, his team-mate when Hull KR first arrived in Super League in 2006.

“I spoke to him before I decided I was going to take it,” he said

“I wanted to run it by. Obviously we’ve played together, we’ve always been good friends I ran through what was obviously put on the table and wanted to make sure if I took it we were still okay.

“He was more than happy I took the job. We still speak and he’s wished me all the best.”

Webster’s task is to ensure Hull KR start winning games fast and avoid the ignominy of the Qualifiers, a fate they had to endure last season.

The Australian, who bizarrely was in charge as Rovers player-coach for three months during the 2005 campaign when aged just 25, insists there will be no problems despite the strange set-up that has occurred.

Poching, Chester’s assistant, made it known he wanted the main job but has been kept on the coaching staff moving forward, while Steve McNamara, the former England chief currently working as a Sydney Roosters’ assistant, is the name most people expect to be unveiled at Craven Park for 2017.

Rovers chairman Neil Hudgell had said on Friday when the move was announced that Webster would become an “integral part of the backroom” working under the club’s new head coach next season.

But asked what he will be doing next year, Webster said: “I’m not sure. There might be chance to go back to the Academy, there might be chance that someone who comes in will have the choice to pick their staff and whether he decides to keep me at the club, that hasn’t been decided as of yet.

“Things change very quickly in rugby league. We’ll see what happens and play with that when it comes.”

The 36-year-old, who was head coach at Wakefield Trinity for 12 months until leaving last May, did not rule out returning to be an assistant if the new coach wanted to retain his services.

“I’ve always enjoyed being an assistant – both at Hull FC and Wakefield,” he said.

“It’s a very rewarding job and if you look in Australia nearly all assistants now are people who have been head coaches before so it is still a good job.

“Things down the track for next year is not in my remit. I’ve no idea what they are going to do or who the person is that they are actually looking for.

“All I can control is the things I can control like making some gains.

“We need to pick up some wins over the next month.”

Chances of that occurring are increased with the news that captain Terry Campese could be about to finally make his return from a knee reconstruction that has sidelined him for nine months.

The former Australia stand-off has completed contact training this week and Webster says he will let the player decide, in conjunction with the club’s medical staff, after training on Friday whether he is fit to return versus Huddersfield.

Similarly, fellow half-back Albert Kelly will decide if he is ready to play once more after missing last week’s defeat to Widnes with a hamstring strain.

Second-row Graeme Horne could get the nod if given the all-clear following the knock to his head in the defeat to St Helens a fortnight ago.

Centre Liam Salter is missing after sustaining another shoulder injury that will see him seek further specialist advice, but hooker John Boudebza and prop James Green both return from suspensions.