Hull KR chairman Neil Hudgell has hit out at prop Adam Walker’s departure from Hull KR: saying the Robins felt the 25-year-old “owed” the club a year’s service.
Walker has notified KR he will be leaving the Lightstream Stadium, with a number of Super League clubs interested in the prop for 2017.
But Hudgell believes that Walker has “headed for the hills”, and in a statement issued via the club’s website, also hit out at Walker’s agent for his involvement.
“I can’t blame any player for wanting to play in Super League but in my opinion Adam is a special case and we felt he owed us a year for the support the club has given him. Instead, he was the first to head for the hills,” Hudgell said.
“It was us who sat round the table with his legal team and repeatedly defended him in the face of criticism. By contrast, his agent has crawled out from under his stone at the smell of cash to take his slice. It’s a great disappointment for the club to lose Adam but we will move on.”
However, there was some good news for KR, as Thomas Minns has become the latest player to commit to the club for 2017.
Coming on the back of Shaun Lunt and Maurice Blair committing to the club, the 22-year-old was nominated for Championship Young Player of the Year during his last season in the division with Featherstone Rovers in 2015.
Head of Rugby Jamie Peacock said: “Thomas will be a tremendous asset for us in the Championship having really excelled in the competition a couple of years ago and it was important that we retained a quality young player such as him.
“He’s still only 22 and has plenty of development ahead of him, but he’s got tremendous experience for his age and really showed what he could do last season with regular game time.
“He certainly knows where the try line is and he proved what sort of impact he can have against Super League opposition so we’re delighted to retain his services for 2017 and beyond.”