In the early hours of Sunday, April 21, Hull KR arrived back in England having suffered a 36-6 drubbing away to Catalans Dragons. Since then, the Robins have swatted aside two other members of the Betfred Super League elite and are firmly among those fighting it out at the top of the table.
Head coach Willie Peters could hardly have asked for a better response to that defeat against last year’s Grand Final runners-up than defeating the team which beat Catalans at Old Trafford in October, Wigan Warriors, 26-10 at Sewell Group Craven Park the following week.
That was followed up by overcoming St Helens 40-20 on their own patch last Saturday, a result which put Hull KR level on points with the Super League leaders. Warrington Wolves, another of the sides at the sharp end, are up next, although Peters is determined to stay grounded despite the impressive recent results.
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“I don’t think two weeks dictates your season and where you are,” Peters told Sky Sports. “We’re realistic of where we sit at the moment and where we want to get to, but to beat sides like St Helens and Wigan, you’ve got to enjoy that.
“We’re not getting carried away because we’ve got a strong team in Warrington on Thursday. We’ll be keeping our feet on the ground, that’s for sure, and looking forward to playing Warrington, who are a very good team.
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“I’m happy for the players because they’ve worked hard the last couple of weeks. There were a lot of questions around how we would step up against the bigger teams in the competition and we weren’t happy with what we did at Catalans.
“To beat Wigan and now St Helens, it’s a big improvement from where we were.”
That Hull KR are among the contenders going into Round 11 should not come as a surprise to anyone as they aim to build on Peters’ impressive first year at the helm in 2023, when the Robins got within 80 minutes of a maiden Grand Final appearance and reached the Betfred Challenge Cup final.
Any questions about whether they could follow up in 2024 are being firmly answered so far. Hull KR are Super League’s leading try-scorers after 10 rounds of the season with 48 so far and have the third-best average gain of 6.88 metres.
The approach Peters’ team utilise in attack can be seen by the fact they have made the joint-highest number of offloads in the competition, along with Salford Red Devils, with 107, which has undoubtedly contributed to the Robins making more clean breaks than any other team with 55.
No team has made more runs out of dummy-half than Hull KR either, with hookers Jez Litten (49) and Matt Parcell (28) both being in the top 10 for individuals in that category in Super League in 2024 as well.
We’re realistic of where we sit at the moment and where we want to get to, but to beat sides like St Helens and Wigan, you’ve got to enjoy that.
Notably, nearly 30 percent of the tries the Robins have scored so far have come inside the first 20 minutes of games and Jai Whitbread, player of the match in the win over St Helens, explained that is something Peters has put an emphasis on.
“Something we speak about a lot is starting fast,” Whitbread told Sky Sports. “The times when we’ve been burned, we haven’t started fast and that’s something we put a big emphasis on.
“We’ve got big support behind us on and off the field. It just makes my job easier, more than anything.
“I’ve got some very talented players around me and they lift me up, so I don’t have to do too much, just focus on my job.”
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It is not just on the pitch Hull KR have been progressing. The club are currently recording average home attendances of over 8,000, their highest crowds of the Super League era, and have more than 6,000 members signed up.
Peters, whose first post-playing role in rugby league was selling sponsorship at NRL club South Sydney Rabbitohs, understands how success both on and off the field at the club go hand in hand, and is striving to bring a first major honour since the 1985 league title back to East Hull.
“We just want to keep improving both,” Peters said. “There is a lot happening off the field; we’ve got a board that’s very proactive and they’re all very successful men and women in their own right.
“We’re getting that right, and it’s important for us on the rugby side and rugby staff to make sure we’re getting our area right.
“We are, we’re getting there, but in rugby league you’ve got to work hard every day.”
Live Betfred Super League
Warrington Wolves and Hull KR get Round 11 of the 2024 Betfred Super League season under way on Thursday, May 9 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, exclusively live on Sky Sports Arena from 7.30pm (8pm kick-off). Watch every Super League match in 2024 live on Sky Sports and stream with NOW.
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