Whitbread was left out by Willie Peters on Friday night
Hull KR’s Jai Whitbread touches down for a try against Wakefield.
Willie Peters has moved to explain the reason why he took the decision to drop Jai Whitbread from Hull KR’s win over York Knights on Friday night.
Whitbread was a notable omission against the Knights with the versatile forward dropping out of the 17-man squad to take up the 18th man role on the night, meaning he watched on from the sidelines as KR won 38-6 at Craven Park.
The Australian has been a pivotal player for the Robins this season, but he was one those who struggled for traction last week at Belle Vue when KR lost to Wakefield Trinity and with Tevita Pangai Jr coming into the fold, Whitbread, who recently became a father, was ultimately the one to make way.
As such, he will represent the club’s reserves against their Leeds Rhinos counterparts at Craven Park this afternoon and he’ll be keen to make a point by catching the eye in that game.
“It was performance from last week,” Peters said when asked why Whitbread was left out of the fold for the visit of York. “Jai had a lot going on the week before and he probably didn’t have the prep that he would have liked and that went into his game a little bit.
“We have a full compliment at the moment and Jai knows what he needs to work on, I don’t need to say that publicly.
“He’ll play tomorrow and get some minutes in the reserves and I’m sure it will be good for him. We’ll see how he goes but I’m sure he’ll respond well.”
Whitbread has made 16 appearances for the Robins this season with the Wembley final against Wigan Warriors being the first game he has missed all year. He’s scored seven tries in that time, too, a tally that is already a season high for him, but it seems he now faces stiff competition to reclaim his spot in the side.