Super League match preview: Hull KR v Bradford Bulls
Hull KR host Bradford Bulls at MS3 Craven Park on Sunday with both sides having won just one of their last five matches.
Last Updated: 02/06/13 2:47pm
Rovers head coach Craig Sandercock is without Kris Welham, who is struggling to recover from a shoulder injury, while on-loan Luke George has returned to parent club Huddersfield Giants after sustaining a knee injury.
The absence of Welham and George paves the way for utility back Sam Latus and second row Jason Netherton to be included in Sandercock's 19-man squad.
A controversial 22-16 defeat at the hands of city rivals Hull FC during the Magic Weekend has left the Robins ninth in the Super League standings, some 13 points short of the league leaders.
Similar form has seen the Bulls slip to seventh in the table after they conceded seven tries in a 42-6 defeat to Huddersfield Giants at the Etihad Stadium.
The 2003 champions have won seven matches and lost in equal measure this season and head coach Francis Cummins is desperate to see his side return to form.
Doubts
"People are doubting us and saying we aren't up to it and two because we need to have a backlash from our own performance," he said. "We need a good performance this week."
Cummins welcomes back Brett Kearney from a groin strain, while Adam Sidlow and Luke Gale also return to the match-day squad having missed the Magic Weekend.
Michael Platt comes in to replace the injured Adrian Purtell, while Matt Diskin, Jacob Fairbank and Jamie Foster miss out through injury with Adam O'Brien in as cover.
The Bulls have won three of the last five Super League meetings between the pair, beating the Robins 34-12 in the previous meeting at Odsal in March.
Hull KR: Salter, Brown, Walker, Netherton, Tuimavave, Cox, Mika, Burns, Horne, Withers, Hall, Paea, D Hodgson, Lovegrove, Dobson, Latus, Eden, Beaumont, J Hodgson.
Bulls: Donaldson, Kearney, Olbison, Sidlow, Gale, Kear, Scruton, Bateman, L'Estrange, Platt, Lulia, Whitehead, O'Brien, Sammut, Addy, Langley, Walker, Blythe, Evans.