Willie Peters was pleased with Bill Leyland’s response to an early test against Wigan Warriors as the Hull KR hooker marked his return to the side with a determined display.
Leyland completed 52 tackles in the Round 25 contest, missing just two in an effort bettered only by team-mate Karl Lawton.
He also ran for 57 metres from dummy-half in the 46-0 defeat, in a game that marked just his 10th appearance for Hull KR in 2026 – and his first since the beginning of July against Hull FC.
His starting opportunity came after England international Jez Litten was rested with minor injuries following a hectic period of four games in 14 days for the reigning champions.
Peters named a youthful outfit to face Wigan, but admitted he did not consider Leyland to be one of the youngsters and was pleased with the way he went about his game.
Harvey Horne, Alfie Woods and Frankie Dearlove all marked their Super League debuts on Thursday, while Dec Murphy made his first competitive appearance for the club since joining ahead of the 2026 season.
“I said to Bill before the match, there’s a lot of young guys in this team – I don’t see him as that young guy anymore,” Peters said.
“I thought his performance was a bit of a slow start, but we got a couple of messages out there and he fixed it straight away.
“50-odd tackles, and he was sniffing around Sam Luckley with a couple of dummy-half runs to get us on the front foot. It was good to see him play the way he did.”
Hull KR take on Huddersfield Giants in the penultimate round of the regular season, with the Robins still two points ahead of St Helens in the play-off race.
They will finish their campaign at the BrewDog Stadium against Saints.