The wake-up call that helped fire Hull KR’s winning streak.
Hull KR’s coach Willie Peters celebrates the Good Friday victory over Hull FC.
Hull KR’s early-season reality check has played a role in their recent resurgence, with the Robins now unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions after a chaotic start to the year.
Willie Peters’ outfit head into Super League Round 10 against Castleford Tigers sitting fifth in the table, with a game in hand due to their World Club Challenge involvement.
Livewire half-back Mikey Lewis recently ran riot at Odsal in Hull KR’s 48-12 victory over Bradford Bulls, extending his side’s winning streak, with results also recently over St Helens, Hull FC and Toulouse in Super League. They also secured their place in the Challenge Cup semi-finals over York at home.
Hull KR also boast a strong recent record in tomorrow’s fixture, having won their last seven home meetings with Castleford, while Ryan Carr will field a reshuffled side due to injuries, suspensions and recent signings.
But Rovers’ turnaround in fortunes has been driven by a frank assessment of their position on the domestic ladder.
“Looking at the table, it wasn’t pretty at the start,” head coach Peters said. “Initially, we said we’re not going to look at the table.
“But we’re an honest group here, and it was important to say this is the reality of where we are.”
Peters has consistently stressed that performances must come first, with results following – a message underlined by Hull KR scoring 218 points during their winning run, while conceding just 38.
“As much as we wanted results, we also spoke around performance and if we got a performance, we’d get the result and find our way up the ladder,” Peters continued.
“We’re in a reasonable spot now, but it’s really congested. If you have a couple of losses, then you can go south again. But that’s not on our radar, we just want to make sure we keep ticking wins off, but mainly getting the performance – because the wins will come with that.
“We’ve got a plan this week of how we want to play Cas, but that’ll come after we make sure we’re competing hard and we have the best version of Hull KR.
“We know what we’re going to get from our opposition, so we need to make sure we’re at our best.”