Whereas the 2024 final was a tense and a low scoring affair, Hull KR flipped that script on its head with this year’s war of attrition.
Gone was the caginess of last year. And nerves? What nerves? This was a side made for the occasion, that knew they were on the cusp of greatness and took their opportunity.
Yet it might not have been that way as they were off the pace in the opening stages, and were lucky not to fall behind when they failed to pick up French on the turnover prior to his score being chalked off.
Other than that if they seemed unnerved by the occasion, knowing they were 80 minutes from a history-making treble, they did not seem to show it.
Much had been said in the build-up to the game about Hull KR’s recent and distant past – whether that’s relegation in the Million Pound Game in 2016 or finishing bottom of Super League in 2020.
Indeed, outside of some second-tier honours, you had to go back 40 years to the last time that the Robins reigned supreme.
Bolstered by the retiring Waerea-Hargreaves – who almost missed the game through suspension prior to KR’s successful appeal this week – and Micky McIlorum, they soon carved open Wigan and never looked back.
Lewis, the Robins’ talisman has gone from strength to strength in recent seasons but, much like his team, this feels like the moment in his career where he truly came alive.
But this was a team performance. It wasn’t won by individual moments of brilliance.
It was a display befitting of a treble-winning side and masterminded by an elite coach in Willie Peters.
Hull KR have got better every season under Peters’ tutelage and, on this evidence, it makes you wonder if they could be even more formidable in 2026.
