Peters believes it’s a big issue in the game.
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has had his say on Super League’s new quota rulings.
Willie Peters hopes to see the reserves competition improve next year and not remain a “false indication” of a player’s talent.
The Hull KR boss was speaking in respect of new signing Cobie Wainhouse who has joined on loan from Hull FC until the end of the season ahead of taking up a two-year deal with the Robins.
Still aged just 19, the former England Academy international is, of course, far from the finished article.
It’s well-known that front-rows don’t mature until much later in their careers and Wainhouse is initially seen as someone who can be developed into a first-team forward.
Peters explained: “He’s a genuine prop. We want to get some young props coming through. We need that. So we wanted to bring in someone that we believe can play first-team.
“I’ve seen enough of Kobie to see that in terms of potential; there is potential there that he can play first-team and be part of us for a number of years. But with front-rowers you never know until early to mid-20s because that’s when they develop.
“Late 20s is when they blossom and play their best. So, look, he’s only young and his best years are ahead. He’s a good kid who wants to be at the club and that’s why we brought him in.”
On how he sees Wainhouse’s development pathway with the Robins, Peters added: “Well, the key is playing against men, and that’s what he needs to do. So whether that’s through Championship or I know – or believe – the RFL are working on their reserves to strengthen that.
“That’s why we have to strengthen our reserves. That’s why need a proper reserves [comopetition] because this is a perfect example with Cobie now; he needs be playing in a really, really strong reserve grade comp’ so we can look at him every week and say ‘yes, he’s ready now’ and earns the right to play for the first-team. That’s how development works.
“But unfortunately, the position we’re at at the moment, the reserve system can be a false indication of where players are at because there’s so many different levels and age groups, in terms of talent. “The Championship, for me, is a strong competition, so whether we look at that next year to go out and get some development through there.
“I believe most clubs will do that because that’s the next best sort of competition under the Super League. Ideally, you want the next best competition to be your Reserves, and then they filter through that to then go to.
“They may be League One, in the Championship, then reserves and into the firsts. That’s development. That’s how it should work.”