The RFL

Hull KR coach Justin Morgan expects a host of unknown youngsters to emerge as stars in engage Super League XIII following the move to scrap relegation.

Rovers endured a season-long battle with Salford City Reds to avoid the drop in their first season of engage Super League but there will be no relegation this year as the game’s governing body prepares to issue three-year licences.

With the pressure off, coaches will be more prepared to take a gamble with their own promising youngsters and Morgan says he will be leading the way.

"We want to make progress," he said.

"We finished second from bottom last year and we want to finish well above that come October.

"But you have a slightly different mindset with no relegation. You tend to maybe be a bit more liberal with some of your decisions about selection.

"I think you’ve seen that with all the squads that the clubs have put together. There are a lot of names that will not be familiar and I think that’s good.

"I think you are going to see a few more stars jump out of the box and coaches will be more inclined to give them a chance rather than go for the hardened, seasoned professional when you have a few injuries.

"You will throw a kid in at the deep end and see how he goes because you don’t have that threat of relegation hanging over your head."

Morgan, at 32 the youngest coach in engage Super League, is tipping Chaz I’Anson, new signing Luke Menzies, Kris Welham and Kirk Netherton to make the big breakthrough at Craven Park in 2008.

"The kids are the ones who have impressed me most in the off-season," he said.

"If they continue to develop, I certainly won’t hesitate to give them a shot but I expect them all to play a role.

"They’re in the top 25 for a reason and I think you would have to be very lucky to use less than 25 players through the whole season."

Rovers will already be without two of their front-line players for the start of the season in Paul Cooke, who is banned for the first six weeks, and Rhys Lovegrove, who is recovering from a hand injury.

Former Leeds Rhinos centre Chev Walker, one of 10 new faces at Craven Park this year, is also doubtful for the opening fixture against his old club, the reigning champions, at Headingley  Carnegie on Saturday week.

The one-time Great Britain international, who has returned to league after an abbreviated spell in rugby union with Bath, damaged a hamstring on the penultimate day of the club’s warm-weather training camp in Portugal.

"He’s a bit better than 50-50 at this stage," said Morgan.

"The medical team keep pushing him each and every day and he hasn’t had any adverse reaction.

"If he keeps progressing at this rate, he’ll play."

Morgan is likely to turn to one of his veterans, Stanley Gene or Chris Chester, to fill the vacant stand-off role during Cooke’s enforced absence.

Scott Murrell, another former Leeds player, wore the number six jersey last year but he has been earmarked for a switch to the pack, alternating between loose forward and hooker.

"We changed his training accordingly and asked him to put on a bit more weight so he’s going to stick to his original plan," added Morgan.

The postponement of last Sunday’s friendly at Oldham has left Morgan with only Sunday’s Stanley Gene testimonial match against Castleford to fine-tune his preparation for the new season.

And, with engage Grand Final runners-up St Helens visiting Craven Park in the second round of engage Super League, Morgan admits he could hardly have been handed a more difficult start to the season.

"It is a tough one," he said.

"But I’d rather play Leeds and Saints in January and February than June or July because of the natural momentum they build up during the season.

"They tend to be big, fast, powerful sides and the pitches are quite conducive to that kind of style later in the season.

"I would have liked to have a couple of games before we took them on but those are the cards that have been dealt to us."

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