RYAN Shaw has put his injury woes behind him and is ready for a new season at Hull Kingston Rovers.

The Barrow Island youth product spent most of this year's campaign sidelined by a knee injury picked up at Easter.

England Academy international Shaw had been on an impressive run of form before that point and was already contracted for the 2017 season, but KR's relegation to the Championship meant he had to sign a new contract.

The 24-year-old former Barrow Raiders winger or centre had no hesitation in doing so, and is ready and raring to go having started pre-season under new coach Tim Sheens.

“Because of the relegation, everybody had a clause in their contract where they could leave if they wanted, so it was a matter of agreeing to stay,” said Shaw, whose goal-kicking saw him rack up close to 300 points during his last season in the Championship with Bradford Bulls in 2015. “We had to sign a new contract for the Championship.

“I always wanted to stay, whether we stayed up or went down. I've settled in over in Hull and I'm really enjoying it there. They're a great club and they've looked after me with the injury. I was happy to stay no matter what.”

He added: “I'm a month off being fully-fit, so I will be ready to go for the start of next season. I'm doing most things in training now, and hopefully I can string a few games together.

“It's been my first major injury. At first, it was tough, both mentally and physically. But I got my head around it and sorted myself out. The last few months, I've been really happy with where I am at and I have been seeing a lot of improvements in myself. I'm happy with where I'm at.

“Hopefully there are no problems. Before my holiday, I was as fit as I have been. I have been running for a couple of months and I have done a lot of fitness work on the bike. It was just the stopping on the lateral movements which were the issues, but they have started to come.”

Shaw knows just what to expect from the Championship following his spell with Bradford and his time with Barrow in the second tier.

He expects the upcoming campaign with the Robins to be similar to that he experienced as Bradford came close to promotion in 2015, with the Bulls the big fish in the competition and the side everyone wants to beat.

“I've played a few years in the Championship, and it will probably be pretty similar to when I was at Bradford,” he said.

“We will be going away to places – unfortunately not to any Cumbrian teams (both Whitehaven and Workington were relegated last season) – like Oldham and Rochdale and it's going to be their Grand Final. They are going to treat the game as if it is their Grand Final.

“It's going to be a tough year, and I'm sure we will have quite a few tough games on out hands. Hopefully we will perform, and we should be at the top of the league.

“Our aim is to get into the top four and into the Super Eights. From there, we'll take it where it goes. We'll set goals as we go along.”