Hull KR boss Willie Peters gives his take on the Jared Waerea-Hargreaves incident

Hull KR boss Willie Peters will have been a relieved man during Tuesday night’s Super League award ceremony.

Shortly before the event in Manchester was due to get underway, Peters got the news that Jared Waerea-Hargreaves would be eligible to play in Saturday’s Grand Final at Old Trafford after being initially hit with a ban by the Match Review Panel.

The Grade C charge handed to the former New Zealand international related to the contact he was adjudged to have made on St Helens winger Jon Bennison in Saturday’s semi-final clash at Craven Park. The incident was assessed by the video referee at the time and wasn’t penalised but Bennison went on to fail a HIA minutes later.

As such, there was slight concern that Waerea-Hargreaves could be in trouble on Monday and that proved to be case with the forward being hit with a three-game ban, ruling him out of the final match of his professional career before he stepped into retirement.

With nothing to lose, Rovers appealed the charge and after a tribunal process that seemed to go on longer than first anticipated, they managed to successfully argue that Waerea-Hargreaves was not guilty of what he had been accused of.

As such, he will be able to play on Saturday and that comes as a huge boost to Robins as they look to complete what would be a famous treble at Old Trafford.

Willie Peters on Hull KR man Jared Waerea-Hargreaves

“Some people didn’t understand when the incident was,” Peters said on the incident just an hour or so before the tribunal got underway during the Grand Final media event. “I know there was a stoppage, there was a little bit around that.

“We chat about clips that we think we might have to answer about on the Monday. I knew about it, but the other staff that are onto it, it wasn’t talked about. It’s how minimal we thought it was.”

Asked how Waerea-Hargreaves had been during the uncertainty, Peters added “He’s actually alright, he’s been okay. I don’t think it’s hit him because at the moment we’re hopeful that we’ve got a strong case to be able to get him off.”

It means that the veteran, who was signed to make the difference in the big games, will likely start on Saturday and there’s a strong chance he could be lining up alongside Micky McIlorum, who is also playing his final game this weekend.

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here.