If Super League's end-of-season awards were handed out now, little-fancied Hull KR would be well placed to scoop the top honours.
A third of the way through the regular season, with the Robins handily placed just inside the top eight, rookie boss Chris Chester would be a firm favourite to be named coach of the year, with his captain Terry Campese a strong tip for Man of Steel.
The nearest rival for Campese, who has slotted effortlessly into Super League after a decade of service to the Canberra Raiders, could be his Robins team-mate Albert Kelly, whose two long-range tries were the highlight of his side's magnificent win over champions St Helens last Friday.
Kelly joined the club on a two-year deal from Gold Coast Titans but is already attracting interest back in the NRL, while it is little wonder that Rovers are currently working overtime to tie down Campese, who signed only a 12-month contract in the winter.
Chester's main rival for coach of the year right now would probably be Saints boss Keiron Cunningham, who guided his home-town club to six straight wins at the start of his tenure and unearthed the outstanding candidate for young player of the year in second rower Joe Greenwood.
The Hull KR board took something of a punt when they promoted 36-year-old former Halifax, Wigan, Hull and Hull KR forward Chester from assistant coach on a three-year contract as the successor to Australian Craig Sandercock last August, but so far their faith has been well justified.
Apart from the not-inconsiderable feat of masterminding the first defeat of both 2014 Grand Finalists in Super League XX, Chester's most impressive achievement has been moulding a team virtually from scratch.
The Robins began the campaign with 13 new faces, which became 14 when hooker Shaun Lunt joined them from Huddersfield, and it was felt the first three months at least would represent a period of transition.
How Leeds must be thankful that they got Chester's new-look team first up for, since their opening-round 40-30 win at the KC Lightstream Stadium, Catalans Dragons, Wigan and St Helens have all been summarily despatched, albeit in dramatic circumstances.
Third-placed Huddersfield are the next potential prized scalps for the Robins in front of the cauldron that is Craven Park but Chester's men need to improve their away record if they are to mount a serious challenge for the top four.
Apart from a horror show at Wakefield in round two, Hull KR have actually performed well on the road and could have come away from both Warrington and Widnes with the points and they will go into Thursday's eagerly-awaited derby at the KC Stadium in good heart.
The mood in the Robins' camp will be in sharp contrast to that in Perpignan, where Catalans are preparing for another daunting trip to England hoping to break their away duck in 2015.
Since gaining an emphatic win over Warrington at Stade Gilbert Brutus in February, the Dragons have taken one point out of a possible eight to drop into the bottom four and pile the pressure on coach Laurent Frayssinous.
Of even more concern than their traditional scratchy away form will be the Catalans' defence, which has leaked 161 points in their last four matches, and their continuing brushes with the game's disciplinary panel, with Morgan Escare set to become the fourth Dragons player to be suspended inside the first two months.
No-nonsense chairman Bernard Guasch will be demanding maximum points from the club's Easter fixtures with Wakefield and Widnes, two of the other clubs in the bottom four, if Frayssinous is to remain secure in his job.
Source: PA-WIRE
