BEFORE a tackle was even made, hopes were high that 2014 would see Hull KR close to repeating their fourth-place finish of 2009.
Billed as the best squad KR have had in Super League, it proved to be anything but as the players failed to deliver and Craig Sandercock paid the price.
Put simply, it's been another season of underachievement.
And not even the winning end to the season at Wakefield could help to paper over the cracks.
Fortunately, the Robins' 42-18 win victory meant they avoided dropping down to 12th place, one spot above relegated Bradford and London.
But a final standing of ninth place is far from what anyone envisaged back in pre-season.
A strong squad, including three State of Origin stars, had been assembled and deemed good enough to end the days of scrabbling around fighting for the final play-off place.
Slow out of the blocks when failing to win until round six, Sandercock, below, was always on rocky ground from the word go.
Having been left to play catch-up in a fiercely competitive Super League, it proved too difficult to claw back.
The success or failure of any side starts with its half-backs and it's fair to say Rovers' pivots did not fire on all cylinders this season.
Kris Keating struggled from the start as the ghost of Michael Dobson loomed large.
Replacing Dobson was always going to be a tough ask, but Keating still hasn't convinced the fans he can do the job.
Leaving his half-back partner Travis Burns to lead the team around the pitch, when his form dipped in the last month or so it really hurt the Robins.
There are some who feel Keating could flourish if Burns wasn't alongside him, and with speculation continuing to link him with a move to St Helens that may come true sooner rather than later.
But it wasn't just the half-backs where Rovers were struggling, as details emerged of ill-discipline and club rules being broken midway through June.
Wayne Ulugia was eventually sacked and Jonny Walker released from his contract, while later weeks saw Greg Eden and Adam Walker dropped for disciplinary reasons.
With the club concerned that discipline had become a problem, players were reminded of their responsibilities and it was one of the areas Chris Chester looked to address first when taking over from Sandercock on July 3.
Maybe the players thought they could get away with things with the Aussie in charge, but Chester has since made it clear he won't tolerate any nonsense.
Having made a change at the top of the tree, the caretaker coach set about putting new structures in place to make sure the KR fans had a bit more to cheer about.
On his coaching debut, he got the side playing the best rugby of the season in a 40-10 win over eventual table-toppers St Helens.
Sadly, it proved to be another false dawn as they struggled to find the consistency needed to get into the play-offs.
In his nine games as head coach, Rovers won three, drew one and lost five, the most forgettable of which came at the KC Stadium in a convincing 28-0 defeat by Hull.
But with the season now over and plans already being made for 2015, what can fans expect in future?
For too many years, end-of-season reviews have been all about where it went wrong.
However, Chester cannot be blamed for too much after inheriting a side which was already three points outside the play-off places and hardly firing on all cylinders.
Instead, getting his side ready for the start of the new season is already at the forefront of his thinking.
With a three-year deal under his belt, Chester now has to get his players to buy into what he wants to achieve.
The addition of Willie Poching to his backroom staff has been done in a bid to create a new culture and make the team more competitive on the pitch.
If Rovers are still in the same situation 12 months from now, trickier questions will have to be asked.
The board have invested plenty of their own money and will not tolerate missing out on the top eight, especially with the new structure coming into play. Finishing anywhere between ninth and 12th will see them play Championship sides, instead of battling it out for a place in the Grand Final at Old Trafford.
And that's not good enough for a side with ambitions of competing for silverware.
With a major overhaul of the squad planned, Chester has to make it his priority to hit the ground running to avoid yet another slow start.
Not since their first season in Super League back in 2007, when they won four of their first five matches, have Rovers started a campaign well.
Aware that a good start takes the pressure off everyone, Rovers will enter their ninth Super League pre-season keen to build and harbour confidence amongst their new-look squad.
Swapping their warm-weather training camp in Tenerife for a mentally-challenging army camp has also been mentioned to toughen the players up.
In reality, it does not matter what methods Chester chooses to use. He just has to deliver a far better campaign to avoid another season of hope becoming a long and unwanted chore.
Picks of the seasonBest game Beating leaders St Helens 40-10 in Chris Chester's first game in charge following the departure of Craig Sandercock.After a cagey first half, Rovers led 14-10, but it was all one-way traffic after the break. Omari Caro and Craig Hall scored hat-tricks while Graeme Horne and Greg Eden completed the rout.
Worst game Make no mistake, August 29 was a black day for Rovers. Not since 1957 had a Rovers team been nilled by Hull in a competitive derby but that's what happened in a 28-0 embarrassment at the KC Stadium.Rovers never looked like scoring against a Hull side that handled the wet conditions better. It was the worst performance of the season from Rovers, who needed the win to keep their play-off hopes alive but served up an unacceptable display.
Starman
Josh Hodgson, above, picked up both Player Of The Year awards and there really wasn't much competition from his team-mates, who showed glimpses of what they could do, but weren't able to sustain it.But Hodgson fully deserved both awards for continued consistency and the 11 tries he scored this season.
Canberra-bound for 2015, he will leave a big hole to fill at hooker, and whoever takes the number nine shirt will have big shoes to fill.
Rising star This season has seen the emergence of four key young talents – Connor Robinson, Macauley Hallett, Sonny Esslemont and Aaron Ollett.Only a season-ending knee injury at London denied Ollett from adding to his six games, but the homegrown kids have gained valuable experience. Next season will be important for those four to carry on from this season.
