The Rovers CEO sat down to talk about the future of the club
15:47, 22 Jan 2026Updated 16:01, 22 Jan 2026
Hull KR’s Paul Lakin and Willie Peters(Image: )
Ahead of the new rugby league season, we sat down with Hull KR chief executive Paul Lakin to get his take on the season ahead, the club’s incredible treble success and what comes next for the Robins.
James Smailes: How do you begin to reflect on what the club achieved in 2025?
Paul Lakin: I don’t think it’s truly sunk in, if I’m honest. I think that the Challenge Cup Final did, because so many people were so emotional about the win and so many people were looking to the sky and thinking of lost ones, and I myself was doing the same, and that really hit home.
I don’t think the treble has necessarily really hit home yet, which, if I’m really honest, probably slightly frustrates me. But mainly because we’ve had such a focus on 2026, and we had to prepare for the World Cup Challenge and Las Vegas. We obviously went the full season all the way through to the very end so there wasn’t time to stop and think.
I need to, but I think the overriding feeling from it is obviously pride, definitely pride. But we want more. So we want more as a board, the head coach wants more, I want more. To answer the question properly I don’t think I’ll truly realise until I’ve left the club. Until you come off the hamster wheel and you can think that job went pretty well.
JS: It feels important that the success of 2025 has left you hungry and not satisfied.
PL: Very much so. You don’t know what the other side feels like of winning until you’ve done it and when you’ve done it, it’s such a good feeling, you just want more of it. It’s funny when people say, if you lose big games it doesn’t matter, there’s always another one. And if you’ve never won a big game, you sort of fall in line with that.
But now if anyone says that to me again, I’ll be like, It does matter, it does matter. Because if you do happen to win, it’s just the most amazing feeling. I think that we’ve got a really settled squad and we’ve a really settled spine, which I think is critical in this sport.
So we go again and the hunger is very much there. I spoke to a couple of key people in the coaching team last week and we’re going well. The hunger’s there.
JS: You were always confident that 2025 would be a year you achieved something. Did you overachieve in winning the treble, or given you were the best team in the country, was it more a case of justifying your position?
PL: That’s a really good question because if I was to truly break it down, we didn’t over achieve because we were the best team. I firmly believe that. What I said at the first game last season about us winning something in 2025 thankfully came true but it rolls into the answer to the last question. Which was, when we did finally win the challenge cup then as a club and as a team we knew what it was like to win.
It is not always the best team that win things and and we could have been the best team not to win something. What I mean by that is we had a really strong squad regardless. I felt at the beginning of last season we had a great team and the best coach in Super League.
But winning that Challenge Cup made me feel like, we’re all right, we’re going to go again here. I think therefore if you asked me at the beginning of last season I said one trophy would have been the right achievement. But after we won the Challenge Cup, if you’d asked me then, I’d have said, no, we should go on and win the next two.
JS: Have you seen a notable difference around the place since the success of last season? Have you noticed a visible change in any of the staff?
PL: I am really pleased to say this. Within the club, no! Honestly, I fully expected to be in a situation where and I did think to myself, I’m going to need to keep a lid on this one as one or two might become Billy Big Time, but that’s not the case at all.
That’s credit to everybody here. But also because of the workload, because actually they’ve gone straight into things like Vegas, World Cup Challenge. So I’ve seen none of it, no.
And outside, in terms of what I’ve noticed more than anything is just the pure growth of the club. One thing I have underestimated coming here is how big this club could be. I remember before I came back, Neil (Hudgell) said to me… “Do you think Paul, we could ever get 10,000 people?” And I said, ‘at a stretch I think we can.’
I honestly think if the stadium was right, we could get 13,14 maybe 15,000 people to our stadium, because that’s the size of our fan base at the moment. Without a doubt.
And I think that’s the biggest change. I was in a coffee shop first thing this morning, two people in the queue wanted to chat. I’ve just been to the gym for a meeting and a couple of people wanted to chat. It’s great how everyone is talking about KR, it’s far better than people ignoring you.
JS: We’ve seen the South Stand extension, where are we with plans for a permanent structure in either the main stand or east stand?
PL: As I reported before, the cost is astronomical, so it needs time to think about it. But my biggest worry as the CEO, going back to the last point about the growth of the club and how big the club has become, which has amazed me, is that I didn’t want us as a club at this moment in time to lose a generation by not allowing everybody in to be able to see the game.
Yes our fan base has grown and is growing, but it will only grow if they can see us and watch us. So I think a temporary structure at the south is now highly likely and if we do that then you know we’ll be at 12,000 nearly every game if not every game and it’s getting sizable at that point.
JS: The away following has been equally impressive in recent years which makes a difference to the team?
PL: Absolutely, our way following is without a doubt the biggest in Super League. It’s exciting times. My role is to make sure that there’s as few blockers as possible to ensure that everybody can get to watch us.
JS: You mentioned Vegas, how exciting is it going to Vegas as the treble winners? Does that help you in terms of pushing the club more to that Australian market?
PL: Most definitely. Most definitely because a lot more people have now heard of us from from the southern hemisphere. Going there as treble winners does raise our profile.
I actually think it’s an outstanding game because on a personal level I really rate the Rhinos and I think they’ll go really well this year too. So I think it is actually a top game too.
When the Vegas games were chosen we hadn’t won anything and they were the team that they look like being now, so I think it’s an outstanding game. Ironically for all the eyeballs and for all the marketing, it’s two points and it’s a home league game, we need to remember that.
JS: How much has Willie Peers being assistant to Australia in the Autumn helped as well in terms of awareness of the job he’s doing and awareness of KR’s success and growth among the Aussie players, press etc?
PL: First of all I was delighted that Willie got the role and secondly, it will raise our profile even further over there because he’s become a well-known name now.
It’s actually helped us as a club really well because in terms of some self-development and personal development for Willie, I know he achieved a lot from that role and he got the opportunity to work with the best of the best.
It helps in terms of the players. He also got a chance to catch up with the best head coaches in the NRL for bits and bobs on advice. So I think that that role was a great benefit to Willie but a great benefit to Hull KR.
JS: How important is it then that you maximise this opportunity of being in Las Vegas. It feels like a massive opportunity off the field.
PL: All the various different departments have been involved in Vegas, so not just obviously on the field and the support staff on the field, but there’s a lot of teams off the field that have been heavily involved from commercial marketing, media.
We’ll embrace it. We’ve set up things out there for the fans that haven’t been done previously. I know Willy has made sure that the players get the exposure for all the media commitments they’ve got. So we will be absolutely embracing it.
At the end of the day, we’re the home team. And we’re going out there, as you say as treble winners and we have to show that respect. We will be in demand.
JS: Let’s talk more about Willie Peters. You have got arguably, you’d say definitely, the best coach in Super League contracted for the next three seasons. You also have eight players signed up for at least three more years, some of them four more years. Are people missing the point that you planned and built for this success over a year ago?
PL: Yeah and if you look at our spine, if you look at one, six, seven, nine and 13. We’ve got Arthur another three years, we’ve got Mikey for four years, Jez three or four. Mini, the captain, I think it’s three years. Tyrone’s another two.
It goes back to my previous point that we’ve got a very settled spine which is really important to us. And Willy knows that!
JS: The sign of a well run club is often minimal recruitment each year not wholesale changes. You’ve got that this year with five additions.
PL : That was us four years ago, making lots of changes. We’re in a lot more settled state where we’ve got all our key players tied down and it allows us to plan.
It allows it to be more strategic when you’re looking at three or four replacements rather than as you say, 10 and 12. We are in a good place with that.
We’ve always had a winning mentality but we now know what it’s like to be winners and have that winning mentality. I don’t think there’s many players that would want to leave us at the moment.
There will be media and fan reviews soon of the teams for next season and what positions they’ll be in. Everyone reviews the squads and goes through the ins and outs of the squads, but when there’s a review I never see anyone review the coaches.
I think it’s the most pivotal position you can have in a club is your head coach and I think without a doubt we’ve got the best. I don’t think that’s ever factored in. I factor it in but I don’t think people ever factor that in when they look at squads for the following year.
JS: The squad looks very similar and some of the recruitment feels similar as well. I mean that respectfully in a good way in that you’ve identified what’s left and you’ve replaced it. It’s not exactly like for like, it can’t be because of who you lost. But it feels very well calculated. Is that fair?
PL: We’ve gone for Tom Amone, a Dream Team prop that knows what it’s like to play over here. Tom’s signing has been lost on a few people because we signed him such a long time ago for this year. So we’re excited, very excited with Tom.
With Karl Lawton, he’s played over 120 NRL games, and the value with Karl is he can play two positions and it’s the two positions where players have left. Knowing we also have Bill Leyland in the hooker position to be able to step in if need be.
I think that people might say, we’ve lost a lot of experience with Mickey and Jarred. They brought tremendous experience, but I think we as a team have got plenty of experience now. We’ve got a really strong captain, a great leadership group, we got a half back and a hooker who played in the Ashes series.
I thought Jez was one of the best players for England. They’re a year older and a year wiser, so we’re okay.
JS: In terms of recruitment, you’ve got three key quota players that are out of contract this year in Hiku, Sue and Martin. How long will Willie typically wait before decisions are made and you get final plans in place for 2027?
PL: First of all, Willie is a really good communicator with the players and the players always know where they’re. To answer your question, around about now is the time where we start looking.
Sometimes things depend on age and certain situations or in terms of potential player replacements in certain positions. We’ve always traditionally done our business early and nothing’s changing on that front.
JS: What’s does success this year look like? Is it just maintaining that high level and making sure that when the trophies are handed out, you’re in that mix?
PL: My mantra to everybody at the club is two words, “be better.” If everybody can be better by one or two percent across the club on and off the field in everything that they do, we won’t be far away.
That’s the key for me. Regardless of the outcome in terms of trophies, the key is making sure everyone is better. But, I think if everyone gets one or two percent better we’ll go very close.
JS: Away from the game, Coldplay was a huge success last summer. Are there any more plans for some major events?
PL: We are, but the reality of it is for the big acts, they choose us rather than we choose them. We’re always available as a venue and I think that what we did operationally for the crowds on the two nights at Coldplay has stood us in really good stead for future concerts because I think we did a really good job.
We got such good feedback on it so that stood us in really good stead. We’re not a venue where we’re on the circuit as such, so we are in the lap of the gods of one or two promoters that want to bring something to Hull but… Not this year because we’ve got too much going on but next year there’s conversations at the moment where we might do our own event.
JS: Where we are with the full redevelopment aspect of Craven Park with the plans for the sports village and retail park?
PL: The frustration there with the land development has been, there’s been delays for going into full planning due to a couple of objections that we’ve had to overcome. One was from Sport England that we’re there on now, and one from National Highways linked to the Marfleet roundabout.
I only had a conversation last week and we are very confident that we’ll be going into planning final approval the first week in February.
JS: How frustrating is it for you when it’s a different process to rugby. It takes longer and feels sometimes like endless red tape?
PL: It’s been an eye-opener for me on a couple of fronts. We’ve lost six months because we was in for the September planning and now it’s February so we’ve lost six months.
I understand now why so many developments don’t happen because there’s such amount of expense that you have to put in to projects before you even get approval. So it’s a huge gamble and I’m talking like hundreds of thousands of pounds before you can even get something to approval.
For us by getting planning approval that should unlock some funding because it is very difficult to get funding when your land hasn’t been been given approval. In terms of developments in general and the planning process, for a newbie like me and it’s like been really frustrating and I’ve been guided by professionals who know a lot more than me.
You can lose a lot of money in developments before you even get to planning if you’re not careful.
JS: How happy are you with the decision to have 14 teams, getting rid of the loop fixtures and where we’re at with Magic Weekend coming back?
PL: I’m happy with the principle. We as a club still think a decision on 14 teams should have been delayed a year. I think time will tell but I think there will be some blowout games this year because teams just needed another year to recruit.
The principle of 14 teams does make sense. I am particularly happy with Magic. I went to the Ashes game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and it’s a fantastic stadium. Liverpool is a great city.
Sales for that weekend are really strong. I like the idea that they’ve gone for derby games. I think that’s the right thing to do. So I think they’ve made a really good job of Magic Weekend.
I do like the fact that we’re not playing teams regularly three times. That does look better and feels better. The quality of some of the games time will tell.