After losing promising local star Richard Whiting
to Hull after only a handful of first team games, Rovers used youngster John
Presley at stand-off for the 2004 campaign. He was more of a scrum-half
but played at six quite capably before he moved onto a long and successful
career at Sheffield, Keighley and then York. We also used Richard Blakeway,
essentially a loose forward but with the distribution and kicking skills to do
a good job for us in the halves. Australian import Josh Weedon arrived
from Queanbeyan, staying with us for two seasons, and the much travelled Dom
Brambani also played briefly at Rovers between spells for Dewsbury and
Sheffield.
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| Andy Kain |
After our relegation into the third tier of rugby
league for the first time ever in 2005, Rovers had Paul Handforth at scrum
half organising and kicking, and needed a pacy livewire sort of player to complement
him at stand-off. Castleford-born Andy Kain was playing for Widnes and he fit
the bill perfectly. He slotted straight into Rovers team in June 2007 and
scored some vital tries in our promotion push. With two tries on his debut in a
defeat at Celtic Crusaders, Kain played all sixteen remaining games including
the playoff final victory against Oldham at Headingley. Back in the
Championship he was first choice stand-off throughout 2008, his pace and
willingness to back up making him a regular scorer. For 2009 new coach Daryl
Powell brought in both Kyle Briggs and Iestyn Harris as pivots, so
Kain moved equally successfully to scrum-half, and notched a more than respectable
seventeen tries that year playing essentially the same role he had in the
number six shirt.
When Rovers signed Liam Finn to partner
Briggs for the 2010 season, Kain started most of that year on the bench, being
used as interchange hooker where he adapted to the increased defensive duties
of tackling in the middle of the park very well, whilst continuing his eye for
the try-line. That year brought him twelve tries. When Briggs left for
Bradford, Kain & Finn became a half-back fixture at Rovers throughout three
very successful seasons, and Andy continued to rack up the tries at a phenomenal
rate. His record of 30 tries in the 2012 season was in fact the fourth highest
ever for Rovers by any player in a season, behind only Newlove (48) Simpson (34)
and Woolford (31). After the departure of Liam Finn, Andy continued for one
more year at Rovers partnering Gareth Moore at half-back throughout
2014. He reached his fourth Championship Grand final in five seasons, a record
matched by only Ian Hardman and Tim Spears.
At the end of the 2014 season after 210 first team
matches and 128 career tries over eight seasons, Andy Kain moved first to
Hunslet, then to Dewsbury. His try tally leaves him fourth on the all-time list
behind Don Fox (162) John Newlove (147) and Jim Denton (129).
