New Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has revealed that he’s talked with all his players since arriving in England.
Peters takes over at Craven Park ahead of the 2023 season hoping to guide the new-look Robins towards the play-off places, with the club missing out last season.
One of the reasons Rovers did miss out was due to their extensive injury list, which dogged the team throughout the whole campaign.
Speaking on the squad to BBC Radio Humberside, Peters revealed he expects a clean bill of health ahead of their return to pre-season training early next month.
“I have had a chat with all the players,” said Peters. “Most of them will be back for pre-season. We had a lot of injuries, much like the rest of the competition, throughout the whole of last season.
“Rugby league is a physical game and it’s a brutal game at times isn’t it, so you’re going to get injuries, but you can also help minimise the injuries by the way you train.
“We’ve had a good look at our programme and the way we’re going to train and the way we are going to recover so if we combine those two together, I’m sure you will see a lot less injuries this year.”
As Peters mentioned, it wasn’t just Hull KR who suffered badly with injuries in 2022 with almost every team in the league struggling at some point during the season.
The Robins new boss believes that for the competition to show itself in the best light, the number of Super League matches needs to be reduced in a change to rules and structure for the benefit of the players.
“To play three games in a week is very demanding for Super League players at that level,” added Peters. “As I said before, we are essentially in the entertainment business, the players are doing that every week.
“But you need your best players playing every week so these are the best players, and to play in Super League you need to be tough, you need to be fit and you need to be mentally strong.
“There are a lot of factors that go into being a Super League player. So to ask them to train during the week and perform at the level they do and ask them to do it again three days later and again possibly four days later that’s very demanding and you’re going to get injuries.
“Then the product will suffer. We want the product to be at the best it can be every single week, but the welfare of the player is obviously the most important.
“I think we have to think about the overall product, because the guys can only perform at a certain level for so long.”
Peters was also quizzed by a fan during the podcast about which in-play rule he would change if he was given the choice.
“I would probably have a penalty off the scrum, so you can kick the goal,” he responded. “Teams are always offside in those situations and they are happy to be offside. There should be a consequence, so if it is in front they will lose two points.”
