Donaldson believes career is back on track

Correspondent

James Donaldson believes his career has taken a turn in the right direction since his move to Hull Kingston Rovers in 2015.

The ex-Bradford Bull made the move to the KC Lightstream Stadium over twelve months ago and made 26 appearance in his debut season with the Robins. 

The utility forward eventually became a name Chris Chester couldn’t leave out his team due to his unwavering consistency, especially in defence, and Donaldson says that the effort he put in upon his arrival at the club stood him in good stead. 

“I’ve said before that I came here at the bottom of the pecking order, I wasn’t going to be playing week in week out, I knew that,” Donaldson told the Hull Daily Mail.

“I knew in myself what I’m capable of and I can prove people wrong, I’ve done that. I’ve worked hard from day one to prove my point and the hard work has probably got me in the team almost every week.”

The 24 year-old has admitted that although he was happy with his time at the Bulls, his move to Hull Kingston Rovers has really pushed his career onto the next level, that included an appearance in the Challenge Cup final in August 2015. 

“I came to this club on the back of not a bad year at Bradford, but not the most positive,” he said. 

“I think here, my career has taken off into the direction I wanted it to. Again, I’m 100 per cent grateful for the opportunity here and I’ve had to come here and prove myself.”

With the 2016 season just under a month away, Donaldson says he is feeling optimistic about the year ahead and the mood in the Rovers camp is a strong one, and hopes their form in the Middle 8’s is something that can be carried throughout the season.

“There’s no idiots in the team, we walk in and there’s not one person you can’t have a chat with, everyone is best mates,” he said.

“But you can see what that’s doing on the field during games. We settled into it during the middle 8s and hopefully we can continue that rock going into next season.”