Poching believes Bailey brings valuable experience to KR

Hull KR assistant coach Willie Poching is delighted that Ryan Bailey has joined his club on a two-year deal.

With Justin Poore retiring and Neville Costigan leaving, Rovers were in desperate need of pack reinforcement.

Poching believes that Bailey will add experience and aggression to the Robins set-up.

“Ryan is a fantastic signing and an important one for the club,” said Poching, who played alongside Bailey for five seasons at Leeds, and then went on to coach him.

“With Justin Poore retiring, we lost a lot of experience there and a bit of grunt up front and that’s what Ryan brings to the table. He has a wealth of experience at Super League level and also in big games.

“He’s a great athlete, a good trainer and a wonderful player. He gives the impression that he’s a player who plays to the boundaries of the rules at times but he’s aggressive and that’s what you need in a front rower sometimes.”

While Bailey is known for his niggly aggression on the field, Poching insists that he is a very different character away from rugby.

“He’s a totally different person off the field to what you see on it,” said the Rovers assistant coach.

“People who have been watching Super League for a little while may find that hard to believe, but he’s very quiet, he knuckles down, he works hard and he goes about his business.

“That’s Ryan Bailey, he’s very approachable, he’ll do anything for anybody but that’s not the impression he gives on the field. He’ll be great for us to have in the squad and for the young forwards especially.”