WIDELY regarded for his quiet, professional nature, Jason Netherton openly admits his final swansong in Jason Netherton: My ten great years at Hull KR colours will be an emotional affair.
Bringing the curtain down on his rugby league career, ten years of which he spent with the Robins, the 32-year-old can hold his head high after helping turn KR from National League minnows into an established Super League force.
Ahead of this Sunday's testimonial fixture with Halifax, the club Netherton first faced as a Robins player in July 2004's 20-14 win, the second-rower says he'll have a lump in his throat come the 3pm kick-off.
That's because it will be the last time the Hull-born forward will walk out at Craven Park, this time with his three-year-old daughter, Tilly, alongside him.
"Just before kick-off, I'll be very nervous, and I'm sure it'll be pretty emotional walking out for my last-ever game with Tilly," Netherton told the Mail.
"I'll be sad at the end of the game but I'll just be concentrating on trying to get past the first three minutes!
"I'm the first to have a proper testimonial since Paul Fletcher in the 90s. It's pretty special and I'm very privileged to be given a testimonial and to have been at this club for ten years. It'll be pretty sad but I've had a good innings.
"To all of the Hull KR fans, I just want to say thank you. Firstly for the last ten years at the club, and secondly for the year supporting my events.
"They've been well attended by everyone and it's a credit to them so I'd really like to say a massive thank you."
Those messages of goodwill are sure to reverberate from the infamous East Stand when Netherton runs out for the final time.
Although his number of appearances have diminished in recent years because of age and injury, Netherton's commitment to the KR cause cannot be questioned.
Reflecting on ten glorious years in red and white when sitting down with the Mail, he admitted the club's promotion to Super League in October 2006 – a 29-16 victory over Widnes – will remain his greatest ever achievement.
"I knew we were going to win. I was obviously nervous because of how much it meant to the club, the fans and myself to gain Super League status," he explained.
"We'd been the best team all year, by far, and had the best players and ethos.
"I remember having a good few days away in Warrington to get away from the media hype and hassle.
"After the game, from what I can remember, it was good!
"I just remember seeing grown men crying, people like Colin Hutton, Neil Hudgell and Phil Lowe.
"You could see it in their eyes how much it meant to them, and I was still pretty young at my time at the club by then – so I didn't really have a grasp of what it meant to the people of the club.
"Looking back, that's when I realised how much this club meant to these people."
For all of the highlights, including the Challenge Cup quarter-final win over highly-fancied Warrington in 2006, to the Northern Rail Cup success the previous year, Netherton admits his time at the Robins hasn't been without lows.
And last year's derby nilling at the KC Stadium is the biggest of all.
"To get nilled and to play so poorly against Hull FC – and for it to be my last ever derby – is something that will do my head in for a long, long time," said a visibly frustrated Netherton about the game against the opponents he used to go to watch as a young boy.
"That was the biggest low I had at the club, despite us going through a seven-game losing rut in our first Super League season. We didn't care that year, because we stayed up.
"Any derby that we lost I hated, but that's a specific low point. It was tough to take and we got what we deserved. Hull deserved it on that day."
With Rovers now under the stewardship of Chris Chester for the next three seasons, Netherton believes his former team-mate has all the qualities to turn Rovers into top-eight material, having fallen away in 2014.
"This year is a big year. Chris has gone the right way making the big changes he has, and he needs to stamp his mark on the club," he said.
"I've seen him progress through and to see him at this level now is great. He's learnt his trade, he's not someone who's scared of asking questions or trying to develop himself. He's not someone who thinks he knows it all.
"Chris has got rid of the baggage, the new players coming in have a clean slate. It'll be a big bedding-in year, but hopefully they can kick on and make that eight. I hope we're in the mix."
A new role within the Robins scholarship is what the future holds for Netherton as he prepares to mould the stars of tomorrow in red and white.
But ahead of his last hurrah, has he found it hard to cope with hanging up his boots?
"No. I thought I would, really badly, but I haven't. I sat down at the start of last year and I said it would be my final year, so I had it in my head," he explained.
"Then, at the halfway stage of 2014, I started to play well and my body was okay.
"I could have probably gone on for another year to be honest, easily.
"I should be missing it, but I don't. I'm sure it'll change when the games come along, though."
