KR head coach Willie Peters has learnt from past mistakes
Hull KR are hoping a repeat of their Challenge Cup final blueprint can bring a repeat result Saturday night as they go hunting a first Grand Final victory.
The Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield winners are 80 minutes away from claiming an incredible treble and rubber stamping this team’s standing as not just one of the great Rovers teams of all time, but one of the dominant teams in the Super League era. Standing in their way is the significant hurdle of the reigning champions and former treble-winners Wigan Warriors.
Rovers came up just short against Wigan last season in a 9-2 defeat as Matt Peet’s men completed their own treble in 2024. A game that saw the Robins fail to play to their potential, KR head coach Willie Peters took a lot from the loss.
Just as he did in changing the approach in this year’s Challenge Cup final after learning from what he felt could be improved on the 2023 defeat to Leigh Leopards at Wembley, so the Aussie has a blueprint for success this time, with a few notable changes to how KR will go about winning this game.
Not one to show his full hand, Peters admits there will be a change in how the players prepare the day before their second successive visit to Old Trafford.
Peters said; “There’s a few little things that we’ll be doing differently. We’re going down to the ground the day before the game, which we didn’t do last year.
“Last year there were some senior players who didn’t want to do that, but this year we did that at Wembley and I think it is the right thing to do.”
Back on what is now more familiar territory, Peters is hoping the excitement of being at Manchester United’s home will now have passed for his players, with an admission players and coaches alike got a little carried away with their surroundings last year.
“There were some little things last year,” added Peters. “Some players were overly excited and staff were overly excited on game day, photos and all that sort of stuff because we hadn’t been there before.
“That was my learning. How do we still enjoy the moment and experience but at the right time. Maybe we can do that the day before, so we’ll go down and get a feel for the place.”
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