Mantellato prioritises defence for Rovers
Hull KR winger Josh Mantellato wants to see an improved defensive performance from the Robins on Thursday evening when they welcome Wakefield to the KC Lightstream Stadium.
Mantellato missed the 60-0 drubbing at Wigan last week, as he was in Australia for his brother’s wedding.
Rovers were also missing several other important players, including Dane Tilse and Terry Campese.
Mantellato is keen to get out on the pitch to make up for that terrible display at Wigan.
“I don’t like missing games but to watch what happened last week wasn’t pretty,” he told his club’s official website.
“We have a chance to turn it around at home tonight.
“We’ve got a few troops back and we have trained really well. We’re looking really good for our first home game in about a month. We are very confident.
“Attitude towards defence is probably the key issue. It is unacceptable at this level to let in 60 points so defensively we need to be a lot more committed and hold Wakefield to minimal points.
“We are coming off the back of three Super League losses in a row. We were up in the top four and now we are down in the bottom four.
“It can turn around really quickly so if we can get a win tonight and a couple more in the next few weeks we’ll be right back up there.”
Rovers coach Chris Chester is pleased to be welcoming back the likes of captain Campese back into the squad, as well as Jordan Cox from his loan spell at Huddersfield.
“We’ve got the skip back and a few others so we are looking stronger,” Chester said.
“These four guys are really looking forward to playing and it is important to get back to winning ways.
“They beat us quite convincingly at their place and that was quite tough to take.
“They are getting bodies back and we won’t be taking them lightly. They are a good side and Webster has got them throwing the ball around.
“We were rusty when we played them away. We had players who had only been in the country a couple of weeks so we are a totally different side now. We have better combinations now.
“It’s all about ourselves this week and we have to have a better attitude defensively. If we have that we are confident we will come away with a win.”