James Batchelor to put Wakefield Trinity sympathy on hold in quest for Hull KR success

The 25-year-old left Belle Vue at the end of 2022 and has seen his hometown club slip out of Super League following last week's dramatic golden-point defeat at Leigh Leopards.

In stark contrast, Batchelor is preparing for his first taste of the play-offs after taking his game to new heights since joining the Robins, meaning his sympathy for Wakefield will be on hold for 80 minutes on Friday night.

"It wasn't nice to see the scenes after the game," he told The Yorkshire Post. "I've got a lot of close friends there – players and staff. I spoke to quite a few of them after the game and over the course of this week. It's not a nice place to be for them.

"I'll have a chat with them after the game but we're going there with a job to do, as cliché and cold-hearted as it sounds. We're fully focused on our job."

When Batchelor left Wakefield for Rovers, he swapped a team that finished 10th for one that ended the 2022 campaign in eighth spot.

But the hardworking back-rower saw potential in the Robins that is being realised this year under Willie Peters.

The message from inside the club, though, is that they have achieved nothing yet despite reaching a Challenge Cup final and qualifying for the play-offs with one round to spare, as Ryan Hall stressed in an interview after the crucial win over Salford Red Devils.

"We've been made to believe we can do it," said Batchelor.

"When I was looking at signing last year, I knew they'd been to two semi-finals in two seasons and felt I could come and help push the club on. I felt it was a club that wanted to go in that direction as well.

"Some of the boys have said it's different to other years which is a positive thing. Like Ryan Hall said, no-one here is happy to make a final – we want to win them.

"I'm here to win. I want to win things. Unfortunately we didn't at Wembley but this is the next opportunity and I don't want to let it go by."

Peters' side have already gained a modicum of revenge for their painful Challenge Cup loss to Leigh with a 52-10 rout of the Leopards that kicked off the ongoing four-game winning run.

Rovers have another chance to inflict retribution on Adrian Lam's side in next week’s play-off eliminator, the fifth meeting between the teams in 2023.

Batchelor will draw on all of this year's experiences – good and bad – as the Robins look to turn their Wembley heartache into a positive.

"I'm not really thinking about it too much but it's there deep down," he said.

"If we look after what we can look after and do manage to get to the Grand Final, I’d imagine it would be a feeling that would be pretty prevalent in everyone's minds throughout the week to make sure we're not in that position again.

"We've played in some real big atmospheres already – the semi-final at Headingley, the final and the derby as well. I think those experiences will stand us in good stead for the big games coming up.

"Leigh got the better of us early on but we've shown in the last two games – even in patches in the final – that when we focus on ourselves and be Hull KR, we are good enough to beat them. But we're not expecting an easy game at all."

Although Rovers have already secured a play-off date with Leigh, there is the small matter of home advantage up for grabs in the final round.

To take the game to Craven Park, the Robins must better Leigh's result against Wigan Warriors and overturn a 34-point difference on for and against.

In Wakefield's Super League send-off, Batchelor's sole focus is to improve KR's Old Trafford chances.

"We've still got a good opportunity to get fourth place," he said

"To get a home tie would be absolutely massive with the impact our crowd has on games.

"We want to finish the regular season as strong as possible to take momentum into the play-offs and hopefully even get a home semi-final.

"We'll be throwing everything into the next month and hopefully come out with the silverware."