Hull KR v Huddersfield Giants - No regrets for Dean Hadley after crossing the divide

The hard-working back-row made the decision to leave Hull FC for their arch-rivals last July, initially on a loan deal until the end of the season but then on a permanent three-year deal.

Although the start to the new campaign has been tough – the Robins are desperate to avoid a third-straight defeat when unbeaten Huddersfield Giants arrive this evening – Hadley maintains it was the right option to leave the club where he had carved out his reputation.

“It was a big move for me at the time and a big one in my career,” said the 27-year-old, who – behind Sika Manu and Mark Minchiello at FC – had earlier enjoyed an excellent season on loan at Wakefield Trinity before returning to Hull.

“I had a lot of thinking to do but I thought this was the right move and I’ve got no regrets whatsoever.

“It’s been really good. Better than I thought, to be honest.

“Although some results haven’t been great, the off-field stuff, the culture within the club and coaching staff – Tony (Smith) is great, I love playing under him –and all the boys are great.

“It’s one of the best groups I’ve been involved in. It’s just a real pleasure to be involved with everyone.

“And there is some talent here as well. We showed in those first couple of games what we are going to be about this year and hopefully last Friday was just a blip.

“We have to make sure we turn up against Huddersfield and put in a performance to get the result.”

Having beaten Wakefield first-up and then showed real positive signs in a narrow defeat in the derby on his return to Hull, the 52-10 loss at Leeds Rhinos last week was certainly sobering.

Huddersfield, the only remaining unbeaten team in the league with two wins from two, will not be easy either and Hadley knows how important it is to react positively.

“It’s a massive game for us,” he added.

“Every game in this league is a tough one whether you are at home or away. It’s a really strong league.

“And every week you have to turn up. If you don’t scorelines like Friday will happen so we have to fix up a lot of areas; defensively when you concede 52 points it just isn’t good enough.

“But I have full belief in the boys and the coaches. We have a really good group here and we won’t let it affect us.

“We are hurting but we will be looking at what we can improve on against the Giants. It’s a massive game and hopefully we can get the two points.”

Rovers will hope to be far tougher down the middle where Leeds had real joy last week even if their goalline defence did limit the overall damage.

“It was a real tough one,” added Hadley, Australian prop Mitch Garbutt hopefully bosltering them tonight.

“We spoke in the dressing rooms straight away about it.

“It was one of those nights where we tried hard but credit to Leeds; we were second best in every department.

“If felt from that first set we were just on the back foot all night so it was a real tough one.

“They started fast and we failed to meet them. It wasn’t through a lack of effort; we defended back-to-back sets consistently throughout the game and you can see the effort there.

“But it just wasn’t to be and we have to be a whole lot better as that performance wasn’t good enough. We have to learn from that and put everything right for this week.”

Smith has a decision to make at half-back, though.

Jamie Ellis will miss two weeks with a hamstring injury suffered in the warm-up at Headingley and his replacement – Jordan Abdull – did not finish the game due to an ankle issue that could sideline him for up to a month.

Smith has, then, included youngster Mikey Lewis in his 21-man squad along with Joe Keyes, the former London Broncos half-back who could debut after moving from Bradford Bulls in the off-season.

One of them will partner Ryan Brierley who will be keen to impress himself against former club Huddersfield.

Super League chief Robert Elstone says he will be closely monitoring the captain’s challenge when it is trialled in Australia this weekend.

The challenge, which allows captains to query referees’ decisions during stoppages in play, has been provisionally approved by the Australian Rugby League Commission and will be trialled in the All-Stars match on the Gold Coast on Saturday and the Charity Shield a week later.

“I will always watch with interest because I think we need to keep looking to refresh our rules and see how we can make our game more appealing,” said Elstone.