Hull KR coach hits out at Shaun Wane’s ‘hack it’ Dean Hadley verdict with passionate reply

Hull KR coach Willie Peters has admitted he thought Dean Hadley would have made Shaun Wane’s latest England squad: before hitting back at allegations from Wane he isn’t sure Hadley can ‘hack’ an Ashes series.

Hadley is one of several notable omissions in the latest 32-man performance squad, but Wane has insisted the door is by no means closed on anyone not yet selected.

But when asked for his thoughts on why Hadley had not made it this time, Wane admitted he had reservations on how Hadley would react to playing in a high-pressure Ashes Test against Australia.

Wane said: “He could probably hack it. But he might not hack it. That’s just my personal choice.”

But that claim was countered by Peters with a passionate response on Thursday. He singled out Hadley’s omission and Wane’s comments by insisting he would have no doubts the forward, one of Super League’s best in 2025, could make the step up.

“I saw Shaun’s comments around Dean Hadley, saying I’m not sure whether he’d hack it or not,” Peters said. “That’s something I know Dean would be able to do regardless of who he’s playing against – if it’s Australia, Samoa, Wigan or Huddersfield. He does it every week.

“He plays physical and the effort he competes is as good as anyone in the competition. The Australians.. if he played against them, Nathan Cleary on last plays would be feeling the heat from Dean Hadley.

“When middles are getting tired, I know who would be cleaning up: it would be Dean Hadley. I believe he would hack it and I thought he would have been in the squad. I can’t comment on the others because I’m not sure of reasons why but we would have liked a couple more.”

The likes of Joe Burgess and Tom Davies have also been considered unlucky not to make the cut this time, but Peters insists if his players continue to perform, they will not be ignored forever.

He said: “They’ve just got to keep doing what they’re doing. It’s disappointing for players who aren’t in and I believe in terms of the squad, not necessarily the 17, I would have liked to have thought we’d have a few more numbers in there as well.”

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