Hull KR v Castleford Tigers: Jordan Abdull admits he must improve

The talented stand-off may have made his England debut last term, when he was also shortlisted for the Steve Prescott Man of Steel, but there is no scope to rest on his laurels.

If Abdull needed a reminder, he need only look at the Robins’ results so far: they head into this season’s third round tonight still seeking an opening win.

Granted, the East Yorkshire club thrived last term when they reached the Super League semi-finals for the first time but, defeats against Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants have shown they need to continue working at their game.

Tony Smith’s side hope they will get that elusive first victory when they host Castleford Tigers – opponents who are also in the same boat – this evening but Abdull is fully aware of what he needs to do.

“I need to get more consistent,” said the 26-year-old, whose progress was rewarded with that England cap against France in October.

“It took me about six weeks to get going last year and I don’t think I‘ve played anywhere near my best in these first two games of the season or the friendlies.

“So, I need to start seasons better and, if I play my top game, I need to replicate it week in week out. It’s something Tony has spoken to me about.

“I’ve set goals on it myself and it’s just finding the right process for me to be able to do it every single week.

“It is something I’m struggling with at the minute so I need to work harder on my game to be better for the team. I’m trying not to worry about it too much as I have shown glimpses this season of what I was doing last year. But I do need to improve.”

He knows Castleford, under the command of Lee Radford – who let him leave Hull FC for London Broncos in 2018 – will be desperate to get off the mark, too.

Abdull said: “I watched their game against Warrington last week. They are a big pack. They like to move the ball around between the middles so the first aim of the group must be to have good line speed and be aggressive. If we let their forwards get a little bit of a roll on it is going to be a long night for us. We know what to expect from them but we know we have the abilities to beat Castleford.

“Obviously, losing two games to begin with heightens the importance of the result a little bit this week. But I think just having a good performance is probably the main thing on our agenda as we know if we play to our potential we will win.”

Gareth O’Brien, whose Golden Point drop goal for Salford Red Devils famously relegated Rovers in the 2016 Million Pound Game, is looking forward to returning to the scene of his iconic moment.

He will line up at half-back for Castleford in the continued absence of Danny Richardson who is out with a fractured neck.

Since Radford took over from Daryl Powell, they have started with losses against Salford and Warrington and been poor for large parts. With that in mind, O’Brien said: “We are fully aware of how big this game is.

“It is massive. Nought from three doesn’t look too pretty to start the year and I’m sure they’ll be saying the same in their camp.

“We’ve been training as hard as we can this week to work on what we need to so we can put things right and get a result.”

O’Brien added: “There’s no excuse for how we’ve performed and the results we’ve come up with in the last couple of games.

“There’s positives that have come out of each game, but we’ve just been not quite there.

“We had a lot of time to work on combinations through pre-season, we all know each other’s game and we’ve just got to execute it now.

“It’s just the last little bit, making decisions – that comes down to me as a half-back and the spine players coming up with better decisions.”