Hull KR v Warrington: ‘Dad is my biggest fan’ admits Rovers star Luis Johnson

The big second-row, 22, has made a place in the Robins side his own following an off-season move from Warrington Wolves.

Leeds-born Johnson arrived in a deal that saw prop Robbie Mulhern move the other way and – having only played a handful of games for Warrington – he is now clearly making his mark at Hull College Craven Park.

His dad Errol played for Leeds and Bradford Northern in the 1980s and has had a big influence on his rugby.

Johnson said: “He’s into me all the time on how to improve.

“He’s my biggest fan but the first person to jump on me if I need to improve anything.

“He’s always talking about rugby. I’ve played it since the age of three or four so I’ve always wanted to out-do him and see how far I can go.

“It’s a bit of a competition between me and him about who’s the better player. It’s good.”

Wolves paid £45,000 to take a teenage Johnson from Castleford Tigers in 2018 – before he had even played a senior game.

Johnson feels his decision to switch clubs again has been vindicated and, as Rovers chase a fifth win out of six games when Wolves visit tomorrow, that he has settled into Super League.

He said: “It’s more natural now. I’m not going into the games too nervous. I know what to do to help my team-mates out and impress the coaches.

“I’ve got belief in myself and it’s all about doing the little things right. The big thing for me was game-time. Warrington have a lot of high-profile players so it was difficult at the time.

“And I played 2019 on loan here with Tony (Smith) and got on well with him them so it was a no-brainer.”

Tomorrow’s game, though, is under threat as Warrington have a number of players ruled out either as confirmed Covid-19 positives or as close contacts.

Their ability to fulfil the fixture has been threatened by two further lateral flow positives yesterday. A final decision will be made later today once the club has received its PCR results on those players.