Hull KR chief drops 2026 recruitment hint with planning underway

Paul Lakin already has a firm grasp on his Hull KR recruitment plans for 2026, it seems.

The Robins have just announced their seventh and what is likely to be their final signing for the 2025 Super League campaign with Rhyse Martin joining from Leeds Rhinos on a two-year deal. Martin joins the likes of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Micky McIlorum and Tom Davies in making the switch to Craven Park for next year.

However, while Willie Peters’ squad for next season is looking fairly complete at this stage, the recruitment work doesn’t stop there with eyes already turning to 2026. Of course, a lot can happen between now and 2026 and the Robins will hope to have a trophy or two to show for their efforts, but Lakin has revealed plans are starting to put in place with the CEO and Peters having a vague idea of what they would want to add to their squad.

“Well 2025 is done for us, so it’s like what’s next? It must be 2026,” the Hull KR chief said on Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast.

“When I left both football clubs (Wolves and Stoke City), they both gave me the same message which was there is nothing more important than recruitment, be obsessed with recruitment. If you get that right, everything else becomes that little bit easier; retail, corporate, attendances, it’s all relative to my role which is income. I am obsessed with recruitment or I thought I was until I met Willie, he is obsessed with recruitment.”

Pushed on his 2026 plans, he added: “We can only talk about it internally because we can’t do anything about it because of the RFL rules. We can’t approach anybody. I can’t name names, it’s all on a picture board at the moment.

“At the moment we’re positions and not players, we haven’t really said ‘he is the man’. Like every club we always want something more in the forwards. A bit more depth in every position.”