Hull KR boss Willie Peters has opened up on the club's focus.
09:36, 15 Jan 2026Updated 09:40, 15 Jan 2026
Willie Peters admits Hull KR face a fine balancing act between bringing through the next generation of young stars and retaining experienced players in a salary cap sport.
Nine players remain without contracts beyond the end of the 2026 campaign and, with success, comes increased wage demands across any sporting club.
Peters insists a key focus remains developing players through the club’s own pathways, with James Webster recently appointed as Hull KR’s new scholarship head coach ahead of the 2026 season.
However, those youngsters must earn the right to represent the first-team, while the Robins also juggle the futures of established players alongside continued short-term, medium-term and long-term planning at Sewell Group Craven Park.
“In any organisation, you want to have players coming from within,” Peters told Hull Live.
“We’ve got to make sure that they’re able to play first-team. They’ve got to earn the right to play, but the ideal scenario is developing from within, but that’s going to take a little bit of time.
“Initially, we’ve had to bring some players in. I’ve seen other clubs where you bring youngsters in at academy, they’re a part of your system and understand what the club is about.
“You want to bring as many kids through your pathways as possible and we’re doing our best to make that happen. Obviously getting James Webster as the scholarship head coach is a massive coup for us. It’s such an important age to have a detailed and experienced coach like James. It’s where the development and journey starts at Hull KR.
“We always look ahead, you need to look at short-term, medium-term and long-term. When you have success like we’ve had, contracts go up. Therefore, you start to lose players in a salary cap sport.
“Those younger guys then become more important. You look at the likes of Wigan, they help develop Kai Pearce-Paul, he moves on to Australia and they bring in Junior Nsemba. There’s some really good, young talent out there across the game in England. We need to develop from within and keep an eye on what’s out there as well.”
Veteran duo Peta Hiku and Sauaso Sue headline Hull KR’s off-contract list heading into 2026. Prop Sue will turn 34 in April, while New Zealand international Hiku turned 33 in December.
Peters confirmed conversations will take place with Hiku - who missed just one game during the treble-winning 2025 campaign - regarding a contract extension, while the club will continue to work with Sue over his playing future during the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, Love Rugby League has reported that centre Oliver Gildart is set to extend his contract beyond the 2026 season.
“Someone like Jesse at the moment, we’ll see how he plays, how his body is and he’ll let us know as well how he’s going,” Peters added.
“There’s no rush there. He’s in his mid-30s now, he’s come over here and been such a valuable player for us. I knew what we were going to get from him, and he’s given us that plus more. I’ve no doubt he’ll do that again this year, and we’ll have conversations at the right time.
“With Peta, we’ll have conversations with him about looking to extend.”