Hull KR coach doubles down on disciplinary system critique as honest admission made

Hull KR boss Willie Peters has reiterated his dislike of the game’s disciplinary system, admitting that it provides another headache for him when it comes to team selection.

Rovers sit top of the Super League ladder and are now all-but guaranteed to clinch the League Leaders’ Shield for the first time in their history.

They will do just that if they avoid defeat away against Wakefield Trinity in the pair’s Round 26 clash on Saturday evening, or if second-placed Wigan Warriors slip up unexpectedly at home against strugglers Castleford Tigers the night prior.

But as he prepares for the trip to Wakefield, and the games that the Robins have left beyond that this term, head coach Peters must choose whether to stick or twist where some of his players are concerned because of the disciplinary system.

Hull KR coach doubles down on disciplinary system critique as honest admission made

Hooker Jez Litten (5.5), back-rower Rhyse Martin (8.5), half-back Tyrone May (7) and prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (11) are all on the cusp of a suspension, and will be hit with one whenever their next charge comes.

Last week ahead of the Hull derby, Peters criticised the penalty points system which was adopted by the British game ahead of the 2025 campaign, insisting that ‘accidents on the field’ should not lead to points being dished out by the Match Review Panel.

Skipper Elliot Minchella was then handed just one penalty point by the MRP for the tackle on Lewis Martin which led to the forward seeing yellow from referee during the second half of that derby, hit with a Grade A Head Contact charge.

In Wednesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Belle Vue, the Australian reiterated the same message, saying: “It’s something we haven’t been exposed to before and I’ve had my comments around it.

“That’s a lot of players to have a headache around in the sense of if they get one point then they could be out.

“There are accidents in the game and I’d hate to see a player, not just at our club, miss a big game because of it (an accident).

“You need to be thinking about it, yeah, but we’ve got a lot to play for at the moment.”

Peters could opt to rest any of the four players at risk of a ban over the next few weeks ahead of the play-offs, with his side set to enter at the semi-final stage for the second successive year having been beaten Grand Finalists last term.

Following this weekend’s game at Wakefield, KR wrap their ‘regular’ campaign up with a home game against strugglers Warrington Wolves.

He continued: “Momentum’s a big thing and there are going to be all different types of conversations and opinions now on resting players, ‘they’ve got to do this’ and ‘they’ve got to do that’.

“That’s fine, but we do have a programme that caters for us playing every single game this year, and we manage the players accordingly around that.

“This disciplinary points system is different to that because we freshen the players up at training or with days off, but we have to then make a decision on whether we play them or not (if they’re at risk of a ban), which is really difficult.”