Hull KR’s Rhyse Martin deal is biggest statement yet that Rovers are now among Super League elite

Although the comments which accompanied the media release confirming Rhyse Martin’s move to Hull KR were not overly eventful, there was one line from Martin which summed up the state of play at the Robins at present.

“I want to play the best I can for Hull KR and do what’s best for the team,” Martin said. Short and sweet, but with plenty of meaning attached to it.

If Rovers’ capture of Martin feels like a big deal, then that’s because it absolutely is. This is a player who was courted by multiple clubs – Warrington, Leigh and Leeds all held talks, and the Rhinos were desperate to keep him – and is still only 31. In forward years, that’s around peak.

Martin’s performances this season have once again underlined how he is a player who will add value to a team looking to compete for major honours. But it is the fact Martin knows he is coming in to be part of a team littered with superstars that underlines the changing of attitudes surrounding Hull KR.

Of course, Rovers were able to lure big names in the past. Some of them worked, some of them didn’t. But they were stars who seemed to outshine the rest of the team – think Willie Mason, for example. What Rovers now have is a team littered with stars, but more importantly, a team capable of being greater than the sum of its parts.

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The Martin deal sends another clear message out to Super League that Rovers are now firmly one of the competition’s elite teams: and one of its main attractions. That Martin chose Hull KR when he still has so much to offer proves that they can now offer players the chance to win trophies.

But it’s the timing of the Martin deal, and indeed Rovers’ other business for 2024, which is important. Good clubs do not mess about in the transfer market. They know what they want, and when they want it by. And they get deals done.

From a position of being bottom of Super League in 2020, Rovers have built to a point where they can plan short, medium and long-term. That enables them to tie up deals for the following season swiftly. It’s the hallmark of what any good club does.

The season still has just under two months to run, but Rovers are now done for 2025. There will be no more arrivals. Willie Peters knows exactly what he will work with from day one of pre-season before the previous summer has drawn to a close.

It is one thing muscling your way into the Super League elite. Few, if any, have done it for a prolonged period of time. In the past decade Castleford, Huddersfield and Catalans have all flirted with it. By the end of this weekend, they could all be sat in the bottom half of the table.

Catalans – and the club Martin is about to leave, Leeds – will know all too well how one bad recruitment window can be pivotal in this game. As the relentless machines at clubs like Wigan drive on year after year, just getting to the top end of Super League can be difficult to achieve.

Staying there is even more arduous a task. It is signings like Martin, though, which send a signal out to the rest of the competition that whatever happens this season, it will not be a flash in the pan.

There is a new name sitting at Super League’s top table: and don’t expect them to disappear any time soon.

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