Willie Peters has some thinking to do.
Hull KR head into the final round of the season needing a victory to secure the League Leaders’ Shield.
It’s a situation they would have taken before the season started, but not one they would have wanted three days ago.
The defeat to Wakefield Trinity on Saturday will have, to some extent, thrown out the plans of Willie Peters and the coaching staff. A victory would have given Rovers the luxury of resting some players this Friday. Now, doing so would come with risk.
In reality, it’s unlikely that Peters would have wanted to rest a load of players this week. They have a week off before the semi-finals and two weeks off before knock-out rugby wouldn’t be ideal.
But it would have been preferable to give some players, those close to suspensions, a week off.
The most notable player is Jez Litten, who is half a point, a Grade A charge, off landing a one-match ban. If he takes to the field on Thursday, there’s an inevitable risk that Litten will miss the semi-finals if he gets a charge.
But he isn’t alone. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is also a Grade A charge of a two-match ban. That would subsequently rule him out for the remainder of the year. Likewise, Dean Hadley has three disciplinary points, so a Grade B charge would rule him out for a game too.
Either way, Peters must now take a calculated risk. Let them take to the field and potentially pick up bans. Rest them, and inevitably play a weaker side in a must-win game.
There’s a lot for Peters to weigh up in the coming day. He will be desperate for an improved performance next week, too, after arguably the worst performance of the season at the weekend.
Rovers’ head coach will certainly earn his money this week.