Hull KR ‘owe fans’ as Willie Peters outlines Bradford Bulls demand

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters believes his side ‘owe’ their fans a performance at home, with the Robins seeking back-to-back victories as they host Bradford Bulls.

Rovers have won just four of their eight games since losing the Challenge Cup final against Wigan Warriors at the end of May, and only one of those victories has come against top-six opposition.

Last time out at home, they were well beaten by Super League title hopefuls Wakefield Trinity, failing to even score a try.

But Peters’ side head into Friday night’s game at Craven Park against Bradford off the back of a strong 34-20 win away against rivals Hull FC last weekend, and are now hoping to ride the wave of confidence that result has brought.

‘It was the perfect game for where we’re at’

The victory at the MKM Stadium puts Peters’ side back in the winners’ column ahead of their round 21 meeting with the Bulls, and the head coach felt it came at a perfect time for his side following defeats to play-off rivals Warrington Wolves and Wakefield.

“I think it was the perfect game for us,” said Peters. “A derby game, massive crowd, high energy, vocal and then the game was physical and played with a lot of intent.

“It was the perfect game for where we’re at.”

“Not that we wanted to go down 12-0! But how we came back, it shows there’s a lot of fight in us and a lot of belief and composure. Belief that we could come back, and then composure the way we did it.

“The first 20 minutes we probably overplayed, started chasing it and looking for the points, but we then just gradually ground away at it.”

Fresh from that derby win, Hull KR return to Craven Park for the first time since that aforementioned defeat to Wakefield, and they face a Bradford side stuck in a run of just two wins from their past eight.

The defeat to the Trin will surely sting more than most, considering it was their first loss at home all season, and Peters believes his side owe the Craven Park faithful a response against their West Yorkshire opponents this weekend as a result.

“We’re back at home this week,” he said. “We’re back in front of our home fans, and I just want to tribute the fans in terms of how loud they were (against Hull FC); they got louder when we needed them most.

“We owe them (the fans) one this weekend. We played Wakefield a couple of weeks back, and it wasn’t a KR performance; so we owe them a performance this weekend, and that’s what we’re aiming to do.”

“For us, it’s about improving and chasing that improvement; that’s what we need to look at.

“Of course we preview Bradford and where their strengths are and where we think we can exploit them, but it’s mainly about us. We need to make sure we get our own (game) right again and keep improving. That’s the key for us. At this stage of the season, we’ve got to be going north in terms of improvement.

“I was happy with the (training) session we just had. The energy and the want to improve were there; it wasn’t perfect, but as long as you’ve got players who want to improve and get better, then we’ll be ok.

“I don’t think we lost (energy in training), I don’t think there’s been a lack of energy. You need to break it down individually to make sure you’re at your best every week, and I’m talking about staff, players and myself, and if you have honest conversations, you find where you need to improve.

“They’re a really good group in terms of turning up at training and the levels we train at. But today was positive.”

A win for Hull KR this weekend would see them keep pace with the likes of Warrington Wolves and Leigh Leopards in the play-off race, while a defeat could also see St Helens leapfrog them in the table.

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