COACH Lee Radford says new signing Albert Kelly is “more hated than I am up East Hull than I am” – and that’s a compliment.
Halfback Kelly made his debut for the black-and-whites on Sunday at KCOM Stadium against his former club, cross-town rivals Hull KR.
And while Rovers scored a 40-16 win, the try-scoring bow from the 25-year-old former Gold Coast star was one positive for Radford.
“He’s more hated than I am up East Hull which is a positive,” said the coach.
“He just showed in a couple of glimpses what he’s going to do. Put Mahe Fonua on that edge and Sika Manu and we’ll be having different conversations at the end of games, I think.”
Kelly was dropped by Hull KR after he returned to training late following a trip home to Australia and was missing when Rovers were relegated in a heartbreaking Million Pound Game loss to Salford.
Radford says an upcoming training camp in Portugal will be invaluable after he fielded a line-up on Sunday with 11 first-teamers missing
“I can’t wait,” he said. “You only have to look outside. The temperature’s started to drop. We’ve had to find alternate training fields now because ours is iced up. To have none of that at half-six in the morning will be a pleasure. We’ll get some quality field sessions as well.
“Everybody’s back in. It will be a really important week for us.”
