Hull KR head coach has insisted that star man Mikey Lewis is ready for a big game and urged him to tap into and adopt the same mentality that saw Reece Walsh claim the Clive Churchill award in last week’s NRL Grand Final.
Walsh, who Peters will coach in the Ashes after being named as an assistant to Kevin Walters, had an incredible game that saw him create one, score one and make some game-changing tackles, including one in the final seconds on opposite number Ryan Papenhauzen.
It was one of the great Grand Final performances and it came for a young man who attracts plenty of attention from opposition fans and his own, something that Mikey Lewis will be familiar with.
Lewis, who lost his Man of Steel crown in the week, will now be tasked with stepping up in a big game against Wigan and in particular Bevan French, who is one of Super League’s best big game players.
Asked if he backs his number seven to do that, Willie Peters confirmed ‘I do’ before pointing to Walsh as an example of what the Hull KR playmaker has to do.
Hull KR halves urged to ‘tap into’ Reece Walsh-style mentality
“Obviously, that’s going to be up to Mikey but you look at what Reece Walsh did last week (in the NRL Grand Final),” Peters said when speaking at the Grand Final media event at Old Trafford earlier this week.
Reflecting on Walsh’s performance, he said: “There would have been some stage that he set out in his mind to go out and do that in a Grand Final, it doesn’t just happen.
“You’ve got to mentally (prepare) and he’s built his game over the last ten games to be like that but at some stage, I’m pretty confident that he’d have thought ‘I’m going to be the beast and own this Grand Final’ and I think that’s where Mikey needs to be. He needs to mentally tap into that.”
Peters explained: “It’s not to put pressure on him, we know he is one of our X-factors alongside Tyrone May whose game has been building and probably doesn’t get credit.
“Tyrone adds a lot to our attack and structures but I want him to tap into that as well.”
May and Lewis will be up against Smith and French who are fast becoming the big game masters, particularly French who was named Man of the Match in every final he played in last season – the World Club Challenge, the Challenge Cup, and the Grand Final.
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