Hull KR boss becomes latest to call out Captain’s Challenge flaws as stance made clear

Hull KR boss Willie Peters has become the latest Super League head coach to air their grievances about the Captain’s Challenge rule.

Following on from the blasting comments of Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell, whose side beat the Robins last week, Peters has also added his views on the rule into the mix.

It’s fair to say that, for the vast majority of people, be that fans, journalists or coaches, the jury is out on the Captain’s Challenge, with plenty feeling that the rule hampers the game more than it does help it.

When asked by the press earlier today, Peters has now had his say.

“I think at the moment, I do like it, because there’s a lot of calls in certain games at the moment that you go, if that wasn’t challenged, then that [wrong] decision was going to be made, and it’s like, how can that decision be made type thing?

“So I think there’s certainly a place for it. But there’s a few things to it, isn’t there? The amount of time that’s spent on it, it’s way too long. There’s no doubt about that.”

The length that decisions are taking is the big reason why people don’t like it, with a Challenge sucking out any momentum that has been built up in the game.

Brad Arthur commits to Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR lose back-to-back and Captain’s Challenge rule debated – Click here to listen to this week’s episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show

Peters continued: “The angles that we have here, there’s not a great deal of angles, which can then [lead to] a lot of inconclusive decisions made.

“It’d be an interesting stat to see how many inconclusive decisions are from here to the NRL, and then, [seeing] if it’s worth not having.

“We want to replicate what they’ve got over there. But is it the right thing if you don’t have the resources to be able to look at all angles and get a better decision?”

Whilst the Robins boss certainly recognises there are many flaws in the system, he wasn’t as strong in his comments as Powell was after the Trinity-KR game on Saturday.

“I just think it’s there now, and I’m OK for it to be there. I support that.” Peters added. “But I just think we need to have quicker decisions. We need the game flowing more.

“There’s a few different factors around it, obviously. We’re in the entertainment business, so we need to make sure that we’re entertaining. By doing that, it’s the players doing their thing, you know, not watching a screen.

“It takes the fatigue element out of the game, but also we’re trying to… There’s been calls around speeding games up and all that sort of stuff, so it’s finding that balance. The longer that you rest, the players, they are stop-start, more injuries happen.

“There’s a lot of different factors, but in short… I think we just need to speed up the decision-making process. And as I said, if we don’t have the resources to be able to do that and speed it up, then, you know, a decision’s probably got to be made whether to have it or not.”