Hull KR head coach Willie Peters is no stranger to hard choices and believes his willingness to embrace adversity has helped equip him for the task of ending a 40-year wait for a trophy at Craven Park in Saturday’s Betfred Challenge Cup final.
Peters was just 20 years old when he made the decision to jet halfway around the world in 1999 to escape the suffocating expectations of Australia’s NRL and link up with Gateshead Thunder for their first and only top-tier campaign.
Just seven years later, and after a brief spell at Wigan that included an appearance in the 2000 Grand Final defeat to St Helens, Peters was forced to admit defeat in his battle against persistent hamstring injuries, and retired as a player at the age of just 26.
Peters’ subsequent trajectory as a coach, having started in the sponsorship department of South Sydney Rabbitohs, is somewhat mirrored by the rise of Rovers, who had been languishing in administration in the Northern Ford Premiership in the same year that he made his Super League bow.
Welded together since 2023, when he replaced the departed Tony Smith in the east Hull hot-seat, Peters and Rovers have forged a formidable partnership, rising to the top of Super League on the back of last season’s Grand Final defeat to Wigan, and setting up another chance to end almost half a century of hurt when they face Warrington this weekend.
“I was forced to finish at 26 and I probably didn’t have the playing career I wanted to have,” conceded Peters. “There were lots of regrets there, but I took my time to be grateful for what I did, playing first grade in the NRL and Super League.
“I think that’s probably helped me as a coach, being able to talk to the players about gratitude and what it looks like. There’s no doubt when you go through adversity and you see someone else who is hurting or vulnerable, you can help others.”
Still a relative unknown when he arrived at Craven Park in 2023, Peters had began harbouring hopes of making it as a top-level coach even before he had been forced to come to terms with the fact that his playing days were over.
Having spent six years as an assistant in the NRL, Peters’ first number one role brought almost immediate success, as Rovers confounded most expectations by finishing fourth and reaching the Challenge Cup final, which they lost in heart-breaking fashion on golden point to Leigh.
“Life has a funny way of working out, and what you put into it you get back,” added Peters. “I always wanted to get into coaching, but I probably got rushed into it a little bit after playing, and I wanted to start at the bottom and work my way up.
“I don’t think that I didn’t fulfil my potential as a player, but I had some setbacks that limited me in getting where I wanted to get to. That has put me in good stead to relate to people with injuries, and understand what these guys are going through.”
A quarter of a century on from his single season in the north-east – a move Peters maintains was “the best move I ever made” – the trajectories have switched, as Rovers reign over Super League while the remnants of the Gateshead club – now Newcastle – languish winless at the foot of League One.
During his short stint in the role, which has already reportedly attracted attention back in the NRL, Peters has seen enough to resist making major chances to the pre-final process that took them to within a drop goal of snatching long-awaited silverware in 2023.
“After the game last time when we reflected there wasn’t a great deal we would have changed,” added Peters. “It’s just making sure we control those things we can control. We’ve learned a lot from last year and the year before. It is going to be whoever turns up on the day.”
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