Sam Burgess has praised Hull KR for the way they have managed their hectic season so far - but is ready to hopefully send them into a spin this weekend.
The Warrington Wolves boss is plotting the Robins’ downfall in the Betfred Challenge Cup semi-final as his side bid to crush opponents who ruined their Wembley dream last year.
Super League champions Rovers are on a six-game winning run heading into the do-or-die showdown in Doncaster.
But they had struggled early on, winning just one of their opening four contests as they started their title defence, and suffering a sobering loss versus Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas along the way.
Burgess said: “Their performance level is really good.
“It’s a really tough challenge going to Vegas. We know that ourselves from last year.
“But throwing in the World Club Challenge before [which KR had when beating Brisbane Broncos], managing that would have been tough so you must really respect what they’re doing there.
“Willie Peters is a phenomenal coach and he’s got the team in a great place again.
“We’re expecting them at their best. They’ve been at their best, I’d say, the last month.
“They probably got over the hill of Vegas just at the back end of it.
“They did have some residual fatigue, like we did.
“But you can see they’ve really come outside of that now, which is impressive. It’ll set us up for a great contest.”
That’s true given Warrington - who missed the play-offs last term - have proved themselves to be one of Super League’s early high-fliers.
Their season nosedived last season after enduring a last-gasp Challenge Cup final loss to KR, the second campaign running Burgess’ side suffered Wembley heartache.
The former England captain recalled: “At the time, clearly it did hurt. But that’s sport.
“I’ve been involved in a number of points like that and been on the right side and wrong side of them.
“Hull KR went on to have a wonderful year on the back of it, and we struggled.
“It’s one of those moments that are important in the season.
“But it’s obviously a new year, a whole new season. We’ve moved on.”
And the proof is in the pudding given some of the Wire’s impressive displays so far.
Burgess added: “I’ve been proud of the group’s ability to get on with things.
“We’ve had a few injuries. We lost George [Williams] and Cai [Taylor-Wray] has been out for a number of weeks but we’ve shown the ability to manage those things without losing any momentum.
“I’ve been enjoying that. But I also think, as crazy as it sounds, last year was a really positive year in many ways.
“I said that in time, a lot of goodness would come out of this period and probably a little bit of that is now.
“Some of the exposure those players had at the back end of the year gives them more confidence now when it’s time to play.
“I’m just happy with how the team is and getting on with going into this Cup game.”
There’s so many potential big clashes this weekend.
Burgess said: “It’s disappointing George hasn’t been able to make the game. That would have been a great match-up - George and Mikey [Lewis] on the same side of the field
“But with Danny [Walker] and Jez Litten through the middle, I think you have the two premier nines in the league.
“The way the rucks have sped up a little bit, it suits their style of play.
“Whichever of those two gets the ascendancy in the game, that will be a big influence on the result.
“We narrowed it down to freeing ourselves up a little bit and I do believe we’re back on track.”
