Season 2004

Beating Hull KR 19-18 at Craven Park in second round of play-offs

With finances tightly constrained and another large turnover of players Rovers struggled early season.  In a sign of the times, two of Rovers best young players Andy Bailey and Richard Whiting were transferred to Hull for a negligible transfer fee.  The days of boosting finances through a “sell to survive” policy had gone.  The squad was small and injuries and suspensions exacerbated the challenges with no real competition for a place in the side.  Consequently, results were poor as typified by four defeats by NL2 side York City Knights in the Championship and Challenge Cups.   Rover’s fans feared the worst as the league campaign began with Rovers in poor form and relegation looked a distinct possibility.  But new coach Gary Price brought in more players as the season progressed and results gradually began to improve. 

The arrival of french international scrum half Maxime Greseque from the Pia club in August saw further improvement as Rovers qualified for the play offs after rising to 5^th in the league.  Greseque was a key figure in away play-off wins at Oldham and Hull KR but the semi-final away at Whitehaven proved a game too far.  Props Ian Tonks and Stuart Dickens set a good reliable platform upfront and Richard Newlove was the stand-out amongst the backs in a challenging season.