AT AROUND 3pm on Saturday afternoon, as the Hull KR team coach pulls into the Etihad Stadium, Michael Dobson will afford himself a cheeky grin.
It will be a fleeting moment as the Rovers captain's focus turns immediately back to this year's derby.
But as the impressive stadium appears on the landscape, Dobson admits memories of last year's dramatic win over the old enemy will wash over him.
Maintaining their four-match unbeaten record against Hull at the Magic Weekend, Dobson's late try, followed by Dave Hodgson's 79th minute length-of-the-field score, brought a climax that will long live in the memory, and one Dobson says will be hard not to recall as he arrives in Manchester this weekend.
Following a game last year that should have carried a health warning for fans of both sides, Dobson is hoping for a more mundane derby victory this year.
But with so much at stake, he admits he'll take the two points in exactly the same circumstances, if that's what it takes.
"It doesn't matter who you are, to win a game like that against anyone in the last minute is huge and gets the blood pumping," Dobson told the Mail.
"The first 79 minutes wasn't the best last year, but we managed to get over the line.
"It was a massive win for us the way it happened.
"I'm hoping we can do it a little bit easier this year, but we know how tough it is going to be with the way Hull have been playing.
"I think if we get in the same position as last year it will help us knowing we can come back.
"Saying that, we don't want to have to be in that position.
"We'd like it for ourselves to be a bit easier, but we know it is going to be a tough game.
"Saying that, form goes out of the window in derbies.
It may be a cliché but Dobson knows better than most the form book can be tossed to one side when it comes to the Hull derby.
Not for the first time in his KR career the Aussie will go into a derby regarded by many as the underdog.
It has mattered little in the past with the maestro able to orchestrate a number of significant wins against the Black and Whites that went both against expectation and form.
Facing a Hull side that has won seven out of their last eight games in all competitions, Dobson admits it is yet another tough prospect facing the Robins, and he's singled Hull's forwards out as the men to stop if Rovers are to secure another derby success.
"Hull's forwards are very good," added Dobson.
"They have big forwards who like off-loading the ball and they play on the back of that.
"Their forwards are the key to how they play and how they go in games.
"On the back of that there's Daniel Holdsworth and Richard Horne playing really good footy.
"Stopping the forwards is key though, and we will have to be very strong up the middle."
While Hull are seen as having turned their season around, with some saying they have put themselves back in contention for honours, there has been much criticism of Rovers this season.
It is a critique seen by many at the club as far too strong, with Dobson pointing out a win on Saturday will take them level in the table with Hull and possibly just a point off fifth place.
"I don't think we are as badly off as people have made out," said Dobson.
"We are definitely not where we'd like to be, but saying that, we are only three points off fifth.
"If we string a few wins together we are right up there and that's the aim.
"If we can get in the eight and climb the ladder further and get a few bodies back for the end of the season, then we feel we are a match for anyone."
Building on last week's comfortable victory against Wakefield is key and doing that with a derby win is something Dobson believes can provide a major fillip for the Robins.
And he admits that while maintaining the bragging rights is important, in the grand scheme of the season two points on Saturday is all that really matters.
"This is another game we need to win and we always like to get one over on Hull FC," explained Dobson.
"It is massive for the fans that we win and it is massive for us in terms of where we want to finish on the Super League table.
"It is a big game for many reasons on Saturday.
"The main reason is we want to climb that ladder a bit more.
"It is not hard to get up for a derby, everyone knows what it means to people.
"You have to be disciplined and the team that does that and completes its sets will come out on top. Hopefully that's us on Saturday."
