Hull KR boss Willie Peters has doubled down on his decision to drop Mikey Lewis despite watching his side suffer a shock defeat to Toulouse Olympique at home.
Lewis’ two-match ban was due to come into effect after Round 24, with the maverick half-back having been sin-binned on his return from a four-match suspension for dangerous contact on Warrington’s Ewan Irwin in the rearranged Round 2 clash.
But Peters left both Lewis and Tevita Pangai Junior out of his side to face Toulouse at Sewell Group Craven Park as he stood by the club’s “standards”.
Pangai Junior was hit with a four-match ban for three separate incidents against Warrington.
Lewis could only watch on as the Robins suffered a shock 32-12 defeat in East Hull, with Toulouse running in six tries to secure a memorable victory.
But Peters insists he has no regrets over the decision.
“The selfish choice for me today (Saturday) would be to play those guys,” Peter said.
“I want to leave this club in a better place from where I got it. In terms of trophies, we’re in a better place – but culture is so important to me.
“If people keep doing things over and over and there’s no consequence, then you never learn.
“Of course I’d love to have Mikey out there. Mikey is a great player. He’s going to be a great player for this club for many, many years. But I want him to get to greatness.
“I want him to be at the top of the tree in terms of where we are at Hull KR, but also in England rugby league. He’s not there yet, and he knows there’s things he needs to work on. One of them is around actions on the field and different things that happen.”
Peters hopes the decision could ultimately prove to be a pivotal moment in Lewis’ career – for both club and country.
He continued: “If he looks at this from the decision and why we made the decision, and he looks and understands at, which he does, in two years’ time we’re going to be still very close. I’m hoping he goes, that’s the day that I learned a fair bit.
“Would I have liked Mikey Lewis out there with his team-mates? We want him out there every week, but we want him out there making sure that he’s discipline is in line with what our standards are. There’s been some things where he knows that he’s probably gone overboard without consequence.
“It was a decision made for the longer term future of the club, not for today (Saturday)
“Mikey Lewis is going to be part of this squad for many years. He’s going to be a great player for Hull KR and, as I said, for England.”