Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has revealed the extent of the injury issues sustained in the club’s 28-10 loss to Leigh Leopards, confirming at least two players won’t be available next week against Catalans Dragons.
The Robins lost their third game of the season and for the second week in a row, they lost one of their playmakers early on with that injury causing ‘chaos’ in terms of reshuffles.
Late on, they also lost Jez Litten to a failed HIA with the Hull KR hooker also sin binned for an off the ball shot on Lachlan Lam, however, Willie Peters has called for clarification on the situation.
Asked by BBC Radio Humberside about the confusion regarding Litten, he said: “I’m the same, all I know is that Jez is busted up so it might be good to look at that because the feedback I’ve got isn’t great about what an opposition player had done. I need to have a look at it but I don’t know.”
Replays appeared to show Leigh playmaker Lachlan Lam’s boot making contact with Litten’s face, leaving him bloodied seconds before he made the tackle that saw him sent to the bin.
On that, Peters admitted: “I don’t even know what Jez got sent for ten for but I do know that my player is busted up so something has gone on there. He failed his HIA but Tom (Davies) is okay. Jez is worse than Tom.”
Peters also confirmed he didn’t see replays, stating: “I have no idea. Once that happens, my job is to make sure we have players out there and it’s around who is going on so I didn’t look at any screens. I just know that Jez is busted and failed a HIA for a reason and we need to have a look at that.”
Hull KR playmaker facing ‘possible operation’ as Willie Peters rues ‘chaos’
Having failed his HIA, it means that Litten will be unavailable next week and that means he’ll join Danny Richardson on the absentee list with the playmaker limping off in the first-half.
Peters confirmed: “We knew it would be (tough) and with a couple of HIAs and losing Danny Richardson, to what looks like an ankle injury, and having to move people around, it was tough in that aspect.
“But we knew what Leigh would bring and full credit to them, they deserved the win.”
Speaking more about Richardson, Peters said: “It looks like an ankle and it does look serious in terms of a possible operation but we’ll have to get scans and wait and see. The early diagnosis is not great.”
Losing Richardson saw Litten move into the halves for a second week running, with Mikey Lewis having failed a HIA in the loss against Leeds. Similar to last week, Hull KR just couldn’t make it click after the reshuffle and Peters confirmed his side must handle the situation better.
He said: “There was chaos and we need to handle chaos, everyone is accountable to that. We pride ourselves on being able to handle it and we probably didn’t do that well enough.”
One positive for the Robins is that Mikey Lewis will be back and the return of James Batchelor saw Rhyse Martin left out, with Peters explaining that was a selection issue and not an injury issue.
The Australian confirmed: “Rhyse was available today and he’ll be available next week. Where we’re at at the moment, the players we went with are those who have done a job.”
