Hull KR boss Willie Peters provides honest response to NRL speculation after Perth Bears links

Willie Peters’ sole focus is on Hull KR but he admits the club are aware of his desire to coach in the NRL. It comes following claims Down Under linking Peters to a position at Perth Bears, who are set to enter the NRL in 2027.

Sam Burgess and Brad Arthur have been strongly linked with the position in Western Australia, with Burgess going as far as to outline his interest in the role while speaking to the press. Aussie great Mal Meninga has also been linked to the role, with some conversations taking place down under about who could potentially be his number two.

That’s where Peters’ name seems to have come up, with journalist David Riccio describing the Rovers boss as a ‘smokey’, while also saying he has the ‘stocks and goods’ to coach in the NRL due to the fine work he has done at Craven Park.

Of course, Peters is contracted until the end of the 2028 Super League season and as such, Rovers have every right to feel secure about their head coach’s standing. Peters was asked about the speculation linking him to the Bears during his pre-match press conference and he gave an honest response.

“It’s out of my control,” he said. “I’ve always said that at some stage, and the club know, if an opportunity came up I’d like to coach in the NRL.

“My whole focus is what I’m doing now and my focus is making sure we’re getting ready for the Challenge Cup in three weeks’ time and more importantly the game on Saturday. That’s the most important thing to me.

“I’m under contract. At some stage, if an opportunity came up I’d certainly look at it, it’s something that I’d love to and people internally know that so I’ll share that with you guys as well, but my whole focus is on what I’m doing now and that’s it.

“We’ve got an opportunity to win something and that’s what we want to do. We want to win something, and nothing has changed in that way, that’s for sure.”

Willie Peters on Hull KR going to Las Vegas

This afternoon’s press conference came just hours after Hull KR had been confirmed as one of the six teams that will be heading to Las Vegas next February to play at the Allegiant Stadium. The Robins will take on Leeds Rhinos in Sin City and it promises to be another enormous occasion for Super League as a whole.

“It’s really exciting for the club, and I think it shows how far the club has come on and off the field to be a part of Vegas 2026,” he added. “It’s going to be a huge occasion for the club.

“We’re representing Hull KR, but more importantly, we’re representing the entire Super League and rugby league community over here. What comes with that is a lot of responsibility to hold high standards and we’re looking forward to doing that.

“There’s been a lot of hard work that’s gone into the club for many years to step things up on and off the field. There’s a lot of positive things happening, and this is another step for us to show how far we’ve come. Like I said, there’s a lot of responsibility involved to make sure we handle ourselves the right way which we’re going to do.

“It was one of those, you were never going to say no to an opportunity like this. It’s massive. Every club would want to be a part of it. Wigan and Warrington were the first two teams to represent Super League last year and they did a great job.”