Hull KR chief executive officer Paul Lakin has confirmed that the club will sign ‘at least three’ players ahead of the 2027 season, despite the Robins not announcing any new recruits just yet.
The Robins are one of two Super League clubs yet to announce a signing for 2027 despite confirmation that first-team pair Rhyse Martin and Joe Burgess are among those to leave the club.
Club CEO Paul Lakin has now provided a very simple explanation for that and it’s one that in essence comes down to respect and the fact that Hull KR don’t want to announce Nathan Cayless’ signings whilst Willie Peters is still in office.
Peters will depart at the end of the year with Cayless as his replacement and Lakin confirmed, when speaking on the Hull KR YouTube channel, that the Kiwi has a clear ‘identity’ of players he intends to sign, but that those announcements won’t be made until the season is over.
“Why haven’t we announced any signings? Because this season of all seasons, it’s not right to,” Lakin explained.
“The signings that we’ll be bringing in are Nathan’s signings and I like [to have] a coach’s quote on a player, why they’ve brought the player in, but I don’t think it’s right to do that when Willie Peters is the head coach.
“All those announcements can wait to the end of the season. The players that we’re bringing in for next season, Nathan will get every chance to quote about them and we’ll announce them at the end of this season.”
Most Read on Serious About Rugby League
Rovers’ season has now ended so perhaps fans can expect to see some new recruits named in the coming days and weeks.
Red card stupidity, Willie Peters’ legacy, and Super League Grand Final predictions – Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show
Why Hull KR will not overhaul their squad for 2027
As for how many signings could come in, Lakin confirmed that there will be ‘at least three’ but he’s rubbished any suggestion of an overhaul, something that some have speculated.
Explaining why there won’t be an overhaul, he said: “I go back to Wigan in 2024 who won the lot, they didn’t win anything in ’25. They didn’t overhaul. They just came back stronger. They made a couple of tweaks and yes, they have the pathways to bring two or three youngsters through which now we need to do, but there’s no need to do a major overhaul of our squad.
“We’ve got a great core, a great spine, we just need to add some youth and some fresher legs and Nathan embraces that and understands that it doesn’t need an overhaul.”
He’d add: “In terms of incomings, there will be at least three but I think this season will be quite fluid. It could easily be four by the beginning of the season and as we’ve been known to before, maybe make some moves during the season.
“I think there’s an element where Nathan needs to understand what he’s working with and who he’s working with.
“He’s got a core of three players he knows well and they’re all of a certain type and he’s keen to get those guys over but I think we’ll be assessing as we go along.”
Speaking more on recruitment, particularly who and what Cayless wants, Lakin said: “We’ve identified players that we wanted to bring in, that he wanted to bring in, and there’s a certain type of player that he wants to bring in.
“He’s shared with me a clear identity of the type of players he’s looking for and we’ve recruited accordingly.”
