“Whatever fuel he puts in his tank – I want it in my car!”

Drew Darbyshire 10 Aug 2019 10:02 AM

Hull KR coach Tony Smith was full of praise for “machine” Dean Hadley after their defeat at Wigan.

The 27-year-old forward made his second appearance for the Robins on Friday night since arriving from rivals Hull FC.

Hadley couldn’t prevent a 38-16 win for Wigan – but the back-rower earned high praise from his coach after the game.

Smith said: “Our best player was Dean Hadley.

“I’ve sung his praises in a few interviews already. He’s a machine, his work rate is unbelievable.

“Whatever fuel he puts in his tank – I want it in my car. He just keeps running and running, it would save me a fortune.

“He’s terrific and I think he is going to be a super player for us.”

Smith handed a Super League debut to 18-year-old half-back Mikey Lewis, who was recently recalled from his loan spell at League 1 side Newcastle.

Forward Kyle Trout also made his Hull KR bow after recently joining the club from Championship outfit Dewsbury.

Smith commented: “It was a big mixed bag for Mikey. He’s going to be a good player, I’m pretty confident of that but it was a mixed bag for him.

“The first try Wigan scored was a mix up between him and Joel [Tomkins] and it was a missed tackle by Mikey and it shouldn’t have happened but that won’t happen further down the track for Mikey.

“He bounced back by setting up a couple of tries and he tried hard. He knows he has got a lot of things to work on but he is going to be a good player. It was a good experience for him to come here and give Wigan a shake at 18-years-old. We need more people like Mikey and we need to produce more people like Mikey from our area and we will.

“I thought Kyle was strong. He eased into the game a little bit as though he almost didn’t want to do anything wrong to start with and then I thought we saw a bit of Kyle come through. He put a couple of shots on and carried the ball strong. It was a real positive to see him play for us.”