Jamie Peacock has confirmed he is coming out of retirement to play for Hull Kingston Rovers for the remainder of the season.
The former Great Britain and England captain, who finished playing at the end of last season to take up a role as the club’s head of rugby, made the decision after training with the first-team squad and the 38-year-old is in contention for Sunday’s trip to London Broncos.
Hull KR are two points adrift of the three automatic promotion places that guarantee a Super League place for next season and sit in one of the two spots that will determine the final place in the competition next year in the sudden-death Million Pound Game.
Defeated by Championship side Leigh on Saturday, Hull HR have suffered extensive injury problems in recent weeks, and after Peacock was registered as a player before July’s transfer deadline in case of emergency, he will now be resuming a career thought to have finished last October when he helped Leeds Rhinos secure the treble.
Peacock said: “Although my family don’t quite understand it, this feels like the right decision and I’m looking forward to getting back out there as quickly as possible. I’ve been happily retired for almost a year now and bowing out in last season’s Grand Final with the Rhinos was the perfect way to bring my career to an end, but the time has come for me to put my boots on again.
“Unfortunately, salary cap restraints meant we were limited in terms of bringing in reinforcements before the deadline but we explored the option of using somebody internally and I was registered as a Hull KR player with the RFL in case of emergency.
“I understand my decision will be a big talking point but as far as I’m concerned I’m just focusing on training as hard as I can. I know it won’t be easy to just pick up where I left off after nearly 12 months out of the sport but I’m determined to give it my best shot.”
Peacock will also continue in his role as the head of rugby, and the Robins are understood to have held initial talks over a move for Peacock’s former Leeds team-mate, Zak Hardaker. However, they face plenty of competition for the 24-year-old, with as many as six sides interested in Hardaker as he looks likely to return to Super League next season following a short-term deal in the NRL with Penrith.
The Leeds chief executive, Gary Hetherington, told the Guardian that Hardaker remains on the market as Leeds prepare for life without the full-back next year. “Zak asked to go on the transfer list three months ago and we both agreed we needed to start afresh,” he said. “That hasn’t changed, and the plan is for Zak to join another club in either Super League or the NRL.”
Hetherington hinted he was confident Leeds could retain the services of the hooker, James Segeyaro, for 2017 after he joined the Rhinos as part of the swap deal which took Hardaker to Penrith earlier this year. “The intention was always that James would come for the long-term, for at least another two years,” Hetherington said.
“Given how he’d never been to England it was sensible that we’d use this season to see if he’d fit in with the culture, the club and the lifestyle over here: and so far we’ve been really pleased with him and all the indicators are that he’s enjoying it too and things are working well.”
