Leigh v Hull KR: ‘We’ve proved a lot of people wrong’ this season, says Matt Parcell

The Robins have been one of the success stories of 2021 for the manner in which they have turned their fortunes around after finishing bottom last term.

Tony Smith’s side, with their attractive and bold style, were as high as fifth recently.

Indeed, they would have gone fourth if they had won the derby but that loss at Hull FC signalled the start of a run of three defeats in the space of just nine days.

A home loss against Wakefield Trinity was followed by Monday’s 40-28 reverse at Huddersfield Giants so they are down to eighth ahead of tomorrow evening’s Magic Weekend contest with Leigh Centurions.

Australian Parcell, who won the 2017 Grand Final with Leeds Rhinos, admitted it would be “very disappointing” if they now failed to complete the job.

He said: “We’ve put a lot of hard work in to get into the position to have a chance of reaching the finals.

“But in the grand scheme of things going into the season it was probably only us who believed we had a shot.

“In that scenario we’ve proved a lot of people wrong and shown we can play some good footy. We can carry that over to next year.”

That said, the 28-year-old realises they can still recover the situation with games to come against play-offs rivals Castleford Tigers and Leeds after Leigh.

“I think it’s a really good opportunity for us,” said Parcell, full-back Will Dagger coming in for George Lawler (thumb) in their only 21-man squad change.

“The last three games haven’t gone the way we’d have liked but put in a good performance Sunday and we can get momentum behind us going into the last two.”

He added: “We play Cas and Leeds who are in similar situations. If we beat them we’ll be in and if we don’t we won’t.”

Leigh, already destined for an immediate relegation to the Championship, have won just once all season.

Parcell realises they remain dangerous - their solitary victory came less than two weeks ago against Salford Red Devils - but he added: “If we want to make that top six, we’re going to have to go out there and win.

“We’re ready to go out there and put in a good performance.

“For us it’s about getting back to playing the kind of footy that we want to play and know we can play.

“We haven’t lost any confidence. If we play some good footy over the next three games we’ll get the wins and if we can sneak into the top six we’ll have plenty of momentum on our side.”