Hull KR are enjoying a charmed season, their best since 1985, and aim to go one better at Old Trafford after their maiden visit last year.
NEARLY everything has gone right for the Robins this season. Twenty-two victories from 27 regular season games. The League Leader’s Shield for the first time in Super League history. The best season in the club’s history for four decades, which included a last-minute, emotion-charged Challenge Cup win at a rainy Wembley.
If you’re a Hull KR fan, you’re on cloud nine. The champagne has already been popped. But internally, the Robins are not done yet. After getting to a Grand Final for the first-time ever in 2024, they are desperate to go one better this year.
Not just get there, but win the whole thing. One semi-final win will have them back at Old Trafford and with the chance of claiming a treble of trophies, adding another note in the record books for the red and white of Poorhouse Lane.
It’s heady days at Craven Park at the moment and for club captain Elliot Minchella, it’s experience, expectation and confidence that is driving them on. The expectation to be successful, the experience of being in a series of finals over the past three seasons, and the confidence that finally winning at Wembley in June has given them.
“It’s probably being used to those surroundings,” Minchella tells Rugby League World.
“Once you’ve been in a big game or a big occasion, for the first time it’s all new. New experiences, new venues, things like that. That’s one thing but also a bit of confidence in knowing that we want to be in these games and we deserve to be in them too.
“It’s not alien for the club to be in these games anymore; it’s an expectation. Whereas in previous years we probably would have patted ourselves on the back for just getting into these games and into the conversation – that would have been enough. It’s not the case anymore. Expectations have risen, but that’s a good thing too.”
For teammate Jai Whitbread, who joined the club at the end of 2023 from Wakefield, the confidence generated from the cup final experience where they defeated Warrington right on the bell has been massive: “We’ve definitely taken lessons, the best example is probably the Challenge Cup Final. Just being in those big games and not giving up.
“Last year in the Grand Final we were always in the game, always in the game and then probably let it get away from us. Whereas in the Challenge Cup it was reversed. Similar sort of sequence of events – we were there the whole time and then one unlucky break.
“But what we learnt was to stay in it and that we’re a good enough team to come through the other side. You can’t know what you’re made of until you’re in big games, and sometimes things don’t go your way and you take lessons from that, which we definitely have.”
A key element at Hull KR this year has been the arrival of two gnarled veterans in Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Micky McIllorum in the off-season. Both have won Grand Finals before, both have represented their countries, played at the highest levels, and are true leaders. The belief the front-row pair has given their teammates is immense.
“Those guys are winners, they’ve all had success in their careers,” Minchella says. “They’ve all had bags of experience within their own right. It raises expectations but you look around the dressing room and you’ve got these experienced guys, these winners and that gives you confidence and belief.
“We’ve had a bit of success this year but we’ve got a part to play in our careers. Two of those guys are finishing and for us to play our part in their last chapter is a real privilege for us. We’ve got a responsibility to send them off the right way and that’s part of our motivation too.”
Waerea-Hargreaves is 36 and has played more than 370 games for club and country. McIllorum is 37 and has made more than 400 appearances in Super League and for England and Ireland. Both are special characters, respected throughout the sport, and lauded for their toughness and determination.
“Just their presence alone is a lot,” Whitbread explains. “When you run out on the field with them, even when you’re training, they’ve got this aura around them and it makes everyone better, or want to be better. And then obviously when they talk you listen.
“They’ve got that experience in big games, and when they speak they don’t speak just to say things. There’s weight behind their words and they both back their words up with actions.
“That’s something I’ve definitely learned from those two guys and they’re always helping out the younger lads and adding to the culture we’re trying to create.”
Another key factor is the head coach, Willie Peters. The wily Australian took over in 2023 and each year the team has improved. In his debut season it was fourth and a Challenge Cup final appearance. In 2024 it was second-place and a Grand Final appearance. This year it has been first, a cup win and another semi-finals spot secured.
Each year, substantial improvement. Mild-mannered and affable with the media, Peters is made of stern stuff. Whitbread believes the 46-year-old’s pure honesty and direct approach is what gets the best out him and his teammates.
“Willie does it through honesty, whether we’re going well or there’s things we need to do better,” the prop says.
“He says it how it is and he doesn’t beat around the bush. I think that’s a massive part of culture – being honest with each other – because at the end of the day we all want to win. And the only way to win is to get better and you do that by having honest conversations.
“Sometimes they’re tough and they hurt. But he’s real good at that and he sees the potential in players, and that’s how he gets it out. He’s honest with you, he expects you to compete and you put in the work and give your best effort.”
Peters also inspires the Hull KR group through consistency and setting high standards, according to Minchella.
“Willie’s got really high standards and he’s really consistent – that’s the best thing I can say about Willie,” the loose forward says. “Whether we’re on the back of a win or a loss, a really convincing win or a tight win, or a really big loss, his standards remain the same, which is the biggest compliment I can give him.
“Whether we win by 60 points, he still comes in and drives the standards. His expectations are really high – they’re not unreasonable, but he drives the group and we all follow him. And without that I’ve got no doubt we wouldn’t have achieved the success we have so far and what we want to do also.
“I owe him a lot in my personal career. He’s also done it with the group and the evidence speaks for itself about what he’s done at the club. His standards are really high and he’s just a good guy, everyone wants to work for him because he’s a good fella as well.”
Visualisation, also known as mental rehearsal, is one technique the Robins squad have employed this year. This involves players visualising successful outcomes or strategies to achieve their goals, in that they mentally rehearse a performance to improve confidence and skill execution.
Specific breathing techniques, such as Diaphragmatic Breathing and Box Breathing, are other psychological tools Hull KR have used. They are designed to control anxiety and improve performance by calming the nervous system and increasing oxygen intake. Players focus on slow, controlled breaths, especially longer exhales, to try and relieve muscle tension, improve stamina and focus, and reduce adrenaline.
The Robins have enjoyed a great year, their best since Roger Millward sat on the sidelines and George Fairbairn and Gary Prohm dazzled on the pitch. But the journey is far from over.
A year ago they were pipped 9-2 by a triumphant Wigan side, a brilliant Bevan French try the main difference on a sodden night in Manchester. It was wet, it was tense, and it was heartbreaking for Peters’ charges. But 12 months on the coach is reflective, and positive that this time round his Hull KR team has the right stuff.
“It wasn’t our time last year, Wigan deserved that,” Peters admits. “There was a moment in the game, an inside shoulder there off Bevan, and that was a key moment. Also, the field goal just before half-time in those conditions, 7-0 up, that was a key moment.
“But we didn’t deserve it, we weren’t ready. This year was different. We were ready [at Wembley], it took us 78 minutes to win that game and it shows we learnt a lot as a team and an organisation.
“There’s a lot of work to do, but in terms of getting there I believe we’ve got the right mix, the right temperament, the right experience to be able to play in big games, because we’ve played in big games all year.
“There’s been so many big games, most weeks the build-up has been about playing for first spot, you’re playing a derby, you’re playing against Wigan, whatever it is there’s been a narrative around the game that has given each game pressure to go and perform. And I think we’ve handled that well.
“The season finishes in a couple of weeks time, but it’s all about what you do in the back end, and that’s why we’re aiming to peak at the back end.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 513 (October 2025)