{"id":556749,"date":"2026-04-29T10:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T10:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/556749\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T10:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T10:41:09","slug":"hull-kr-boss-willie-peters-ready-for-familiar-face-as-castleford-danger-man-comes-to-craven-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/556749\/","title":{"rendered":"Hull KR boss Willie Peters ready for familiar face as Castleford danger man comes to Craven Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pair previously worked together in Australia!\"Hull<\/p>\n

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters previously worked with Castleford Tigers danger man Krystian Mapapalangi in Australia.(Image: SWPix)<\/p>\n

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters is relishing a reunion with Castleford Tigers\u2019 new star Krystian Mapapalangi – after previously working with him in Australia.<\/p>\n

Mapapalangi has emerged as one of Super League\u2019s standout players so far in 2026, shining for Castleford despite a tricky start to the season.<\/p>\n

Tigers officials are already keen to extend the 23-year-old\u2019s contract after his eye-catching start to life in England<\/a>, having joined on an initial two-year deal on the eve of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Peters previously coached the talented outside-back at Newcastle Knights, where he made his NRL debut in 2022 against Canberra Raiders, before a stint at Wests Tigers prior to his move to Castleford.<\/p>\n

Hull KR<\/a> host the Tigers to kick off Super League Round 10, with eyes firmly on the Australian, who has racked up five tries and four assists this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI coached Maps in Newcastle, so I know a fair bit about him,\u201d Peters revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s good to see him playing good footy. He’s a good fella, and he’s certainly one of the better players this year for Cas.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s come over here, found his feet and it looks like he’s at home at Cas, which is good to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s got a handy player against him in Peta Hiku, so I’m looking forward to seeing that battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters admits he has tracked Mapapalangi\u2019s progress closely, including during a train-and-trial spell at Wests Tigers in 2025. But there was never a route for him to join Hull KR, with Oliver Gildart and Peta Hiku firmly established in the centres at Sewell Group Craven Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always contracted to Newcastle and then Wests. He’s a player I’ve certainly followed, but we’ve always had our centres locked in for the last few years,\u201d Peters explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been happy with Gilly [Oliver Gildart] and Peta as well, but it’s really great to see him [Mapapalangi] doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gildart is set to return from an ankle injury to face Castleford, with wing partner Joe Burgess also back after missing the win over Bradford Bulls through illness.<\/p>\n

The reigning champions head into Thursday\u2019s clash on the back of five straight wins in all competitions, including securing a Challenge Cup semi-final spot against Warrington Wolves.<\/p>\n

Hull KR sit fifth on the table, while Ryan Carr\u2019s Castleford have managed just three wins so far – although that includes a shock victory over Wigan Warriors away from home. The Tigers have recently added Tyler Dupree and former Rovers youngster Phoenix Laulu-Togaga\u2019e to their injury-hit squad<\/a>, along with loan signing Tom Nicholson-Watton from Leeds Rhinos.<\/p>\n

Peters added: \u201cI\u2019m expecting the Castleford Tigers team that played against Wigan to arrive at Craven Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they were outstanding against Wigan, and then they had a dip back at home. But when they\u2019re on, they\u2019re on – and we need to make sure we\u2019re on, which we\u2019ll focus on first.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re back at home, and we\u2019re looking forward to improving in front of our home fans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pair previously worked together in Australia! Hull KR head coach Willie Peters previously worked with Castleford Tigers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20372,5903,20370,101,20373,56,54,55,42222],"class_list":["post-556749","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","tag-willie-peters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556749","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=556749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}