Hull KR are set to be backed by well over 2,000 travelling fans on Saturday evening when they take on Warrington Wolves, a game for which head coach Willie Peters has confirmed his side must now change their mentality.
After a defeat in the 2024 Grand Final, the Robins won it all in 2025 and that shift from being the hunters to the hunted has been one they’ve had a tough time adapting to. A packed schedule that included Las Vegas, a World Club Challenge and a deep Challenge Cup run has led to fatigue, and in turn defeats, with Hull KR only finishing sixth after last year’s first-placed finish.
As such, some have already written the Robins off but for Peters, it just means a return to the mentality of hunters as opposed to the hunted, something he revealed when speaking to BBC Radio Humberside at the play-offs launch on Monday.
“When you win a competition, you’re always going to be the hunted and it’s new territory for us, so no matter what happens, we’ll learn from it,” the Australian said.
“”I think now we need to be the hunters and go after it because there’s no second chance and we need to make sure that we have that same hunger and desire as what we had previously to be able to get to the next step, which is for us to be playing Wigan if we get through Warrington.
“But that [Warrington game] is the most important game for us at the moment – getting through by beating Warrington first.”
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Hull KR boss reflects on packed-out final year with re-energised Robins ready for play-offs
As mentioned, there’s plenty of reasons why Hull KR haven’t been able to back up their treble-winning season, one being that it’s a feat only a handful of clubs have ever done, but also their incredibly busy schedule.
Reflecting on the year, Peters said: “When you have a look at and break down our season up to date, we’ve won a World Club Challenge, made a Challenge Cup final and we’re in the finals, so we’re still in the fight with a fighting chance.
“Naturally, you want to finish in that top two, ideally one, that’s what everyone’s chasing. But look, it’s been a bloody hard year in terms of the boys have played every single week for 30 odd weeks and we’ve had to try and freshen them up the back end, which we’ve done.
“We believe we’re going in the best we can in terms of being fresh and energised and you get what you deserve in this game and we’ll get what we deserve. Hopefully, that’s playing here and winning silverware.”
The Robins rotated players in two of the last three gameweeks, meaning those players who had not had a rest all year now are fully refreshed and that could lead to a massive performance.
Over 2,000 Hull KR fans making the trip to the Halliwell Jones Stadium will hope so anyway, with Peters confirming: “I think we’ve sold 2,000 already. It’d be nice to sell upwards of three [thousand] and we need to give them something to cheer about because those 3,000 will feel like 10,000, the way they get behind our team.”
