Hull KR will be without two key players for the start of the Super League season, with further doubts lingering over the recovery of Terry Campese, the club’s captain.
The forward Kevin Larroyer needs shoulder surgery and the England hooker Shaun Lunt will also have an operation on the ankle injury that rules him out of the opening weeks.
Campese has not played since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament last June, and although Hull KR were initially confident he would be fit for the season opener against Castleford, the coach Chris Chester remained coy on when he would return to action.
He said: “Terry won’t start the first game. He’s quite well on with his rehab but with the skin graft he’s had, if that’s not ready it increases the chance of him doing the injury again, and we’re not willing to take that risk.
“We’ll take it week by week with him; he’s a massive player for us but we can’t rush him, it’s vital we get lots of games out of him this year.
“Kevin goes to see a specialist today [Tuesday] but I think he’ll miss the start of the season, we’ll wait and see what the specialist says. It’s just a matter of finding out how long he’ll be out for. The worst case scenario with Shaun is six weeks, but the best is four, so it rules him out of the first few games at least too.”
Chester, who is in his second full year as the Hull KR coach and is the second-favourite with the bookmakers to be the first coach sacked in 2016, admits the pressure is on for him this year, adding he felt he made mistakes last year as the club missed out on a top eight finish.
“I made some bad decisions along the way; I’m an honest guy and there were some things I did wrong in terms of team selection and the way we played on occasions,” he said. “We tried to be too fancy instead of trying to grind games out, but I’ve learned some lessons and I’m sure the players have too.
“I just thought I made a lot of wrong calls in 2015; there’s pressure in this job of mine but you’ve got to try to keep improving despite that.”
The Hull KR full-back Ken Sio has recently been linked with a return to the NRL with South Sydney, but the 25-year-old appeared to play down an immediate move back to Australia after joining 12 months ago from Parramatta.
“There’s nothing in it; I haven’t spoken to my manager yet so we’ll see how things go, but I’ve got two more years left at Hull KR,” he said. “If the opportunity comes I’ll sit down with it and talk about it with my partner and see what’s best for me and the family.”
