Willie Peters is delighted with the impact Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has made during his couple of months as a Super League player. Waerea-Hargreaves joined Hull KR from Sydney Roosters over the off-season and played a major role in helping the club make an unbeaten start to the 2025 season.
The prop has started all five league games for the club and while his stats with the ball in hand make for modest reading, making just eight tackle busts and producing one offload, his work off the ball has been second to none. The 36-year-old has regularly set the tone in defensive intensity with his line speed and work rate not going unnoticed and his efforts last week were pivotal in helping the club nil Leigh Leopards.
And, his impact away from the Super League field has been tremendous, too, says Peters, with Waerea-Hargreaves helping to raise the standards of everyone at Craven Park.
“What people don’t see is what Jared brings in and around the place,” Peters said about the forward in his pre-match press conference. “I’ve seen quite a number of players come through and play first grade and there’s not many better than Jared in and around standards and intensity and understanding what culture is.
“We’ve got really good leaders, strong leaders and Jared has certainly added to that. That’s the main area where I’ve enjoyed watching Jared in and around the place and he makes other people around him better. That’s the type of player that he is.
“I like what he’s doing in defence, he’s doing a lot of work defensively and with the ball he’ll certainly get better as the pitches dry up. Overall I’m really happy with how he’s doing and how he’s settled in.”
Rovers make the journey to West Yorkshire to face Huddersfield Giants on Sunday, with the Robins being the overwhelming favourites to claim the points against Luke Robinson’s strugglers. It comes after two huge Super League wins over St Helens and Leigh and with two derbies and a clash with Wigan Warriors approaching on the horizon fans could be forgiven for overlooking the challenge of Huddersfield this weekend.
Hull KR won’t be taking their foot off the gas, though, and Waerea-Hargreaves’ presence and NRL mentality will be key to that, with every game as important as the last.
“The beauty of Jared is nothing changes,” Peters added. “When he first turned up his first session to today, to whoever we’re playing, it’s the same.
“That’s what we try and do as a team, talking about consistent performances, that’s how you get consistency, by being consistent with who you are and what you do and Jared is a perfect example of that.
“He’s consistent with the way he is as a human and as a bloke, he’s a top bloke and he’s consistent with how he is at training with his intensity. Nothing changes, it doesn’t matter who we play or what’s happened that week, he’ll still be the same.”
