{"id":329675,"date":"2025-12-22T11:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/329675\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T11:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:39:09","slug":"tom-whitehead-lifts-lid-on-key-willie-peters-conversation-behind-hull-kr-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/329675\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Whitehead lifts lid on key Willie Peters conversation behind Hull KR switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new arrival has opened up on initial chats with Willie Peters ahead of his move to Hull KR.\"HullHull KR’s latest signing Tom Whitehead (right) spent time on loan at Salford Red Devils from Warrington Wolves in 2025. SWPix.<\/p>\n

Tom Whitehead admits his first conversation with Willie Peters was enough to convince him to take a chance and leave Warrington Wolves for Hull KR<\/a> ahead of the 2026 Super League season.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old has joined the treble champions on a three-year deal, bringing an end to a near-decade association with Warrington. Ready for a new challenge, Whitehead believes the move could make him \u201ctwice the player\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMidway through the season, I heard Hull KR were interested when my agent spoke to me. He told me there was an opportunity, and it went from there,\u201d Whitehead said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Willie for the first time over the phone. He asked me what I thought about myself as a player, what I could bring to the team, my strengths, weaknesses and what I\u2019m working on.<\/p>\n

“Straight away, I could tell that he\u2019s got a certain standard and I really respected it. I want to push myself to get to that level, so I really bought into it and it\u2019s been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitehead made his Super League debut in 2022 for the Wire, and also featured on loan at Salford Red Devils last season for a combined 15 top-flight appearances to date in his young career so far.<\/p>\n

The Saddleworth Rangers junior rose through the ranks at Warrington, earning rave reviews during his development, including from England legend and Wolves head coach Sam Burgess.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough decision, I\u2019d been at Warrington since I was 14 so I had that connection with the club. But I thought I needed a change, I needed to be a bit selfish in that regard and I needed a fresh environment,\u201d the forward continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cHull KR is a great club, and I thought it was a massive opportunity I couldn\u2019t let slip by. And for my development at this stage in my career, it\u2019s going to make me twice the player. It was tough to leave, but I\u2019m happy with my decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know at the time that they\u2019d win the treble obviously, but I knew the club was going in a good direction and they made the Grand Final the year before. It\u2019s somewhere I want to spend the next three years, build my game and hopefully win some more trophies along the way.”<\/p>\n

The Robins commenced pre-season preparations towards the end of November<\/a>, with a fresh approach following the appointments of Ian Watson and Luke Gale as assistant coaches, replacing Danny Ward and Shaun Kenny-Dowall.<\/p>\n

Whitehead is one of eight new signings at Sewell Group Craven Park, and the Oldham native is relishing his new environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPre-season has been good, it\u2019s been tough,\u201d Whitehead said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe change has been nice, the lads have been great and it\u2019s been good. I\u2019m enjoying learning every day, and the new challenges it\u2019s bringing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new arrival has opened up on initial chats with Willie Peters ahead of his move to Hull…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20372,5903,20370,101,20373,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-329675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-hull-kr","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports","tag-super-league","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}