Hull KR boss Willie Peters can’t wait to welcome Declan Murphy to Craven Park, but he doesn’t know what position the youngster will play just yet.
The Salford Red Devils youngster will join up with the Robins ahead of the 2026 Super League campaign after penning a three-year deal with the club. The move comes after a number of impressive showings in the Salford side, which has served as his introduction to professional rugby league having switched codes not too long ago.
The 20-year-old played rugby union before making the move to the 13-man game, spending time within Saracens’ academy while also playing in New Zealand. As such, while he possesses all the skill and talent to make a success of himself in league, he is still relatively new to the game.
He has been playing full-back at Salford but Peters is keen to give him a run in a number of other positions, including hooker, to see where he might be most suited.
“He’s a talent,” the Hull KR boss said on Murphy. “I don’t usually get excited by highlight packages because I might be able to put a highlights package together from back in the day and you might think this guy’s alright when that was far from the truth.
“Highlight packages can be deceiving. You can look at them and think ‘wow, what a player’, but you don’t see what they do off the ball, so you have to watch a full game. I’ve watched all his games as well as the highlights package, I got excited by that. It’s what he does off the ball, it’s how hard he competes, he’s a talent and there’s no doubt about that.
“We want to bring in players who are going to put pressure on other players and he’ll certainly do that. In terms of position, at the moment he’s a full-back but we’ll look at him in a few different positions.
“He’s got pace, good feet and he’s willing. He wants to compete on every play and that’s a player you want to work with. I gave him the example of Jack Broadbent when we had the conversation. I won’t give players guarantees, I’ll give them a vision and I gave him a vision around Jack Broadbent.
“At this stage I don’t know exactly where we see him but we’re certainly going to play in a few different positions. Jack played centre in the Grand Final but won the Challenge Cup final at full-back and this kid could potentially be the same. He might come in and we think he’s an out and out full-back or he might be in the halves, we’re going to look at him as a nine as well because he’s got pace, he can kick out of dummy half and he’s got a great pass on him.
“He’s willing, we need to be able to see whether he’ll put his body in front, can he get back onside? Hooker is demanding so we’re not 100 per cent sure he can play at nine but potentially he could.”
Willie Peters on Hull KR signing Cobie Wainhouse
Murphy will be joined at Craven Park by Cobie Wainhouse, who made the immediate move from Hull FC to KR earlier this week. The prop has joined on an intial loan before he takes up a two-year deal and while he never made a senior appearance for the Black and Whites, Peters believes he has the potential to kick on and become a part of his Super League plans.
However, Wainhouse’s short-term future could lie away from east Hull, with a Championship loan a possibility it seems.
“He’s a genuine prop,” Peters said. “We want some young props coming through, we need that, so we wanted to bring in someone we believe could play first-team.
“I’ve seen enough of Cobie to know in terms of potential, there is potential to play first-team and be part of us for a number of years. With front-rowers you never know until early to mid-20s, that’s when they develop.
“He’s only young and his best years are ahead. He’s a good kid and wants to be at the club. That’s why we brought him in.
“The key is playing against men and that’s what he needs to do, whether that’s through the Championship or I believe the RFL are working on the reserves to strengthen that.
“Cobie needs to be playing in a really strong reserve grade comp to then for us then to look at him every week and go ‘yeah, he’s ready now’. Unfortunately the reserves system at the moment can give a false indication of where players are at because there’s so many different levels and age groups in terms of talent.
“The Championship is a strong competition so whether we look at him next year to go out and get some development there, I believe most clubs will do that, that’s the next best competition under Super League.”
