Hull KR suffer blow for Super League opening derby clash

Hull KR have received an injury blow ahead of their Super League opening game against rivals Hull FC with head coach Willie Peters confirming a key player’s absence.

Speaking to the media ahead of the side’s first game of the pre-season against Sheffield Eagles the Australian second-year head coach has confirmed that forward Sam Luckley won’t be fit.

Addressing what his squad to face the Championship side will be like he explained that several first-team forwards will play, but Luckley will be out until round two of Super League.

“We’ll have a few more experienced sort of forwards. Players like George King will play, Matty Storton and Yusuf Aydin will play and then we’re gonna have pretty much a youthful side around that,” Peters revealed.

“The guys that won’t play in terms of injuries will at this stage is just Sam Luckley. He’ll hopefully be ready around round two.

“Other than that, we’ve got guys like Jesse Sue and Jez Litten who are coming back from injury, so they’ll look to play against Leeds next week.

“The majority of our first team won’t be playing this week and the guys that are playing are sort of fighting for positions in that round one team.”

Geordie forward to miss derby day

Sam Luckley has made himself somewhat of a fan favourite at Hull KR with the Geordie forward proving popular in part due to his industrious playstyle.

The 28-year-old only joined the Robins ahead of the 2023 campaign but racked up a huge 31 appearances in his first season, the joint-most of any Robins player alongside Hull-born young stars Mikey Lewis and Jez Litten.

That highlights his huge importance to Willie Peters’ side with the versatile forward having quickly gained the trust of the Australian in his first season at Craven Park.

The news of Jesse Sue returning from injury will be a big positive though with the Samoan international having had an injury-affected first year in Super League.

He played just 15 times in 2023 and Hull KR fans will be hoping that the fact he heads into the season healthy will ensure he spends more time on the field in 2024 than off it.

So whilst Luckley seems set to miss opening night the Robins appear very strong going into the new campaign, taking to the field for the first time this weekend.

Hull KR name young squad to face Sheffield Eagles

As confirmed by Peters the team to face Sheffield is one with plenty of youth and just a handful of senior players, including those three that he named George King, Matty Storton and Yusuf Aydin.

Those three signify the only shirt numbers below 20 with the club also flooding eight academy players, as well as a number of academy graduates.

One of those academy graduates is Louix Gorman and Peters has revealed that the centre will be given a test in a new position against the Eagles.

Peters noted: “We are fielding a young team. We are fielding guys in different positions. Young Louix Gorman, who’s a centre, he’s going to play a full-back. He’s trained a full-back for us. So we’re looking at him in another position.”

The squad also features new signing AJ Wallace who will get his first taste of action in red and white, albeit against a familiar opponent after having played Sheffield twice in 2023 for his former club Bradford Bulls.

Wallace came out on the winning side in both instances but Peters has been clear that this game is more about performance and not results, however he’s intent that the team improve on last year’s first pre-season game which saw Championship side Featherstone Rovers hand out an embarrassing 28-0 loss to KR.

“Last year we had an extra three and a half to four weeks of preseason and then our performance against Featherstone definitely wasn’t up to scratch. It was 28-0 we got beat but we were getting beat 12-0 at halftime, but the side that we had in that first half had a lot of Super League players in it. So there was no excuse for me.

“Certainly for the guys in the academy this year, it’s going to be a big step up. Then I’d like to see the more experienced guys being able to stand out, if you like, and prove that they are Super League players.”

Hull KR Squad to face Sheffield Eagles

10 – George King
17 – Matty Storton
19 – Yusuf Aydin
21 – Corey Hall
22 – Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e
23 – Louis Senior
24 – Reiss Butterworth
25 – Harvey Moore
26 – AJ Wallace
28 – Zach Fishwick
29 – Louix Gorman
30 – Leo Tennison
31 – Lennie Ellis
32 – Connor Barley
33 – Harvey Horne
34 – Neil Tchamambe
AC – Jacob Parkinson
AC – Ryan Moses
AC – Josh Ratuvou
AC – Tom Smith
AC – Oli Forsyth
AC – Freddie Watts
AC – Barney Fishwick
AC – Jack Handley