Lachlan Coote: ‘My aim is for Hull KR to lift the Super League trophy’

Lachlan Coote missed one chance to make history this season – and embraced another. Coote won the Super League title in all three of his seasons at St Helens after joining the club from North Queensland Cowboys in 2019. It put him in a very elite group of players to have achieved that feat, all of them former Leeds Rhinos. Had he stayed at Langtree Park, Coote could have added a fourth successive title, something only Wigan have experienced in the code’s 127-year history.

Instead, salary cap pressure forced Coote out of Merseyside and across the country to the banks of the Humber. Now he is embracing the opportunity to help Hull Kingston Rovers secure their first title since 1985. While Kingston-upon-Hull and tropical Townsville appear to have little in common other than being rugby league-obsessed east-coast cities, the Scotland player sees similarities between the situation at the Cowboys when he arrived in 2014, and the group Tony Smith is evolving now at Craven Park.

“My aim is for Hull KR to lift the Super League trophy,” says Coote. “That’s another thing that enticed me to come here: not having won a Super League before. Being a part of the Cowboys’ first ever Grand Final win, that’s a feeling I’m chasing again. I’ll be doing everything I can to try and make that happen.” Is he confident that Rovers can challenge again for a first Grand Final appearance? “Yes, the competition looks stronger across the board this year than since I got here - most teams look stronger and will be harder to break down – but if we’re not confident we shouldn’t be here.”

While the likes of Castleford and Salford have changed half their team, Coote was one of just four debutants for Rovers in their opening game this season – a 24-10