Red and Whites’ Peters dreams of Old Trafford return
HEAD COACH IS ON AN EXCITING JOURNEY AT CRAVEN PARK
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters is on a journey that is entering an exciting phase. His Rovers side are knocking on the door of a place in the Super League’s top two.
Sitting inside Craven Park, working alongside his coaching team – who have heads down, focused, on their laptops – they are plotting a pathway that could lead to a Super League home play-off semifinal. Leeds Rhinos away is the next test.
Expectation is building around this club. They have competition from traditional heavyweights such as Wigan and St Helens.
And the recent plight of their next opponents Leeds, a giant club of the sport now struggling to stay in touch with the play-off zone, shows how tough it is to achieve success. But Peters is not in the mood to talk down expectation, as we discuss his life and times, and how we reached this point today.
Ambition clearly burns inside him.
“I wouldn’t have come to this club and accepted the job and brought my family over the other side of the world if I didn’t feel and believe that we could do something,” Peters says, although he knows the competition has to be respected, adding: “We are certainly going in the right direction but it is very different to go to that next level. Teams are recruiting well so you can never get complacent.”
Peters was brought up in Australia but he feels the vibe of East Hull, he wants to reflect it. “We are in an area, East Hull, where a lot of people work hard,” says the Rovers head coach. “People don’t just get given things, people have got to work for it. That’s who we are. We want to be a team that likes the grind, that grafts hard. Why is that? Because our fan base is full of that. We will always know what our DNA is about.”
This was, not so long ago, a club that had to focus on averting relegation. These days, it would not feel untoward to talk about whether they could have a crack at a Super League Grand Final. Peters has tasted that already has a player; when, at 21, he played in Wigan’s 2000 Grand Final loss to St Helens. A star-studded Saints team overcame them, 29-16, that day.
Dave Hodgson, Rovers assistant coach, was alongside Peters in the Wigan starting line-up that day too and scored a try. How fitting it would be if, together, they turn that bitter experience of Old Trafford as team-mates into a sweet one as coaches.
“I came over here as a boy and went back as a man,” says Peters, reflecting on his time in England as a player. “It taught me a lot about life and to understand there’s a big, bad world out there! The year I had at Wigan, I played with some great players, some great leaders.
“Andy Farrell was one of the best leaders I’ve worked with, played with. Sam Burgess (at South
Sydney) was another. I knew that Faz would be a coach, I knew that Sam would be a coach. They were both great leaders as players.
“But that team at Wigan that I played with, there was Kris Radlinski, Jason Robinson, Gary Connolly, Denis Betts, Terry O’connor, Steve Renouf, Brett Dallas... it was an amazing team. We made a Grand Final and still to this day it is hard to take. You never want to lose Grand Finals.”
Wigan’s culture was helping to shape Peters into the man he is now. “I learned about working hard – if you want to succeed in life, the magic formula is that you need to work hard first,” he says.
Wigan was just one stop in a playing career that was eventually curtailed early due to injury. “I always wanted to coach – for me, it’s the dream job,” Peters says. “As a player, I got thrown in early and I finished early, after injury issues – and I didn’t want to do that with coaching. I wanted to take my time. I went from Under-16s then Under18s then Under-20s and then to an assistant.”
Being an assistant coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs and Newcastle
Knights in the NRL set him up for the Robins’ top coaching job.
Reflecting on the switch to coaching men, instead of juniors, Peters explains: “The full grown men will challenge you a little bit more because they have got an opinion, they have seen it and done it, with experience. You need to have a reason as to why you are doing things, and you need to have a vision.”
On his vision and philosophy, he says: “I worked with some amazing coaches; Wayne Bennett, one of the best of all time, Anthony Seibold, Adam O’brien, John Lang, Jason Demetriou, Dave Furner, John Cartwright .... But you’ve always got to have your own philosophy. Because there’s no point trying to be someone else. You’ve got to be true to yourself.
“I want to build strong relationships and that builds trust. You need to genuinely care for players. I’m their coach and I’ve got to make some tough decisions but the main thing is that there is a strong enough relationship that we can be honest. I’m not one to play massive mind games. You’ve got to make players accountable and each other accountable.
“I want players playing with freedom, playing what they see, but you need to have reasons why you are doing that. I don’t like to have too much structure.
“If the effort is there, the fans see that. We are not always going to win every game but if we look like we are competing at every play and doing their best, these fans are very loyal.”
That has been there to see in abundance among the Rovers ranks – as well as improved fitness and a generally connected, efficient side. The question is how far their mix of attributes can take them now.
“Initially, our goal was to make our community proud,” Peters says.
“Then naturally you are going to set targets as a club. And people are talking about being a top-four club. And everyone is in this to win silverware. There’s a lot to happen before that but the main thing for me is developing the players.”
Many of those developments have unfolded already before our eyes.
They were there to see in the runs to the Challenge Cup final and playoff semis last year. There is a long way to go, and it will be far from straightforward. But if this carries on, Peters and Hodgson could soon be dreaming of a happier Old Trafford experience together.