‘Irrelevant’ – Hull KR boss on Salford fielding weakened team v Wigan

Hull KR boss Willie Peters commented on whether Salford Red Devils’ team could affect the integrity of the competition before they confirmed the squad.

His comments came before Salford confirmed their side, which features eight potential debutants, two players brought back from Championship loans and no Kallum Watkins, Marc Sneyd, Ryan Brierley and a whole host of other big names.

Hull KR need Salford Red Devils to beat Wigan Warriors to have any chance of winning the League Leaders’ Shield, needing a win themselves on Friday.

Hull KR boss on Salford fielding weakened team v Wigan

Speaking in the pre-match press conference, Peters was asked whether Salford’s team selection could influence the integrity of the competition, and he said: “That’s none of our business or concern to be honest.

“Naturally if they don’t field a strong team then you know what the result’s going to be and if they do field a strong team then Salford are capable of going over there and doing a good job against Wigan.

“Again, that’s out of our hands so I’m not going to even go into that because we can’t control that but what we can control is our prep and what we do on Friday.”

Asked whether they might field a weaker team (which they have done), he said: “Is that what they’re doing? I’m not going to comment on it. As I say, it is none of my business. If teams decide to do that because they think they’ve got an opportunity to win the week after or whatever it may be, it’s none of my business.”

He continued: “I’ll leave that to RFL and obviously if the RFL make that decision, that’s up to them. All I care about is Friday. All I care about is us preparing for our game and the approach that we want to have.

“My take on it is that all I’m worried about is Friday, that’s it. I’m not worried about any other team at the moment, I’m just worried about what we do.

“If we go win, then we finish top two. If Wigan lose and we win, we finish first. If we lose and Warrington win, we finish third. So that’s all I’m concerned about is us going to do a job on Friday and that’s it mate.”

“That game is irrelevant. Wigan is going to be hard to beat no matter who Salford play, of course they can win if they field their best team but again, it’s none of our business. It’s a decision that’s up to them but all I care about is preparing our team for Friday.”