Willie Peters will be watching Jack Charles closely on Friday when Hull KR take on Lock Lane in the Challenge Cup at Craven Park.
Charles made the controversial move across the city from Hull FC to Rovers over the off-season, with the youngster opting to continue his development in the east after impressing on the west.
The half-back is no stranger to first-team action, of course, given he made 23 appearances in black and white, including 17 outings during the club’s challenging 2024 campaign. He’s also made three appearances while on loan at Doncaster, with the 20-year-old touching down for his first try there.
He knows he won’t be guaranteed any opportunities at KR, though, with Mikey Lewis and Tyrone May the established pivot pairing under Peters. However, the head coach admits he will feature against Lock Lane on Friday night and he’ll endeavour to find him more chances down the line as he continues to develop.
“He’s been good,” Peters said on Charles. “He’s only young, he’s only 20, but there’s a lot to learn and in terms of being obsessed about the game and him wanting to get better, he’s a good as anyone I’ve seen, which is really pleasing.
“You want half-backs coming through that love the game and want to get better and he certainly does that. He’s in the coach’s office all the time, he’s one of the last on the field and he ticks all those boxes.
“I think with a player like Jack there’s no rush for him but certainly we’d like to drip-feed him in over the next season or two. He’ll get an opportunity this week so we’ll see how he goes.”
Hull KR coach on Jumah Sambou decision
Someone who will be getting plenty of chances this season is Jumah Sambou, but the outside back has had to leave Craven Park on loan to get them. Sambou only joined KR in the off-season, but he has now signed for Widnes Vikings for the season, with no recall clause.
And, he wasted no time in making his mark for the Vikings with two tries coming in the win over North Wales Crusaders on Sunday.
Explaining the decision to let him go, Peters added: “We needed to get some players out to balance our cap to be honest.
“We needed to get people out and Jumah wants to play. We thought he was the right one in terms of getting him some game time and playing.
“Where Jumah is at at this stage of his career, he needs to be playing every week, every player needs to play every week, but it was a decision that was a little bit forced for us. In the long run it will be good for both Jumah and us.”
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