Hull KR will face Featherstone and Leeds in a pair of pre-season games which will help Willie Peters in his bid to hit the ground running as coach.
The Robins will head to Featherstone for popular former player Craig Hall’s testimonial match on Friday, January 20 (7.45pm).
Then Super League rivals Leeds will visit Sewell Group Craven Park on Sunday, February 5 (3pm), less than a fortnight before the 2023 season starts.
Australian Peters has arrived from Newcastle Knights, where he was assistant to Adam O’Brien, to take up a three-year contract.
He aims to push Rovers up the table after this year’s eighth-place finish under interim coach Danny McGuire, who will be his assistant.
Rovers have fresh faces in backs Tom Opacic and Louis Senior and forwards Yusuf Aydin, James Batchelor, Rhys Kennedy, Sam Luckley and Jesse Sue.
Peters is set to take a sizeable squad to Featherstone, who also have a new coach in Sean Long.
Hall made 118 appearances in two spells at Craven Park while his father David played more than 380 times for the club in the seventies and eighties.
“I’d like to thank Hull KR for agreeing to be opponents for my testimonial game,” he said.
“I left the club in the off-season of 2019/2020 to join Featherstone, so never got a chance to say goodbye and give my thanks to the fans.
“They were always behind me when I was playing for the team I supported from a young age.”
Peters plans to name a more condensed player pool for the Leeds game as he hones combinations and tactics.
The Robins visited Dewsbury, winning 60-12, then beat Huddersfield 24-18 at home last pre-season, when Tony Smith was at the helm.
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