HULL KR coach Willie Peters will be heading for new pastures at the end of this season, when he will leave the club to become the inaugural head coach of the PNG Chiefs, who will enter the NRL competition in 2028.
He had been strongly tipped to become the new England coach, but instead has opted to head to Port Moresby for a historic opportunity to create a thriving culture at a brand new club.
But he is confident that he will leave behind him a club that can continue to succeed, in particular by ensuring it has a steady stream of young players to reinforce the squad when older players reach retirement age.
“Yeah, it’s an area that the club identifies that we need to keep working on, and there’s work going on behind the scenes,” said Peters.
“There are things that (CEO) Paul Lakin is putting in place.
“You want as many of your juniors coming through as possible, but they need to be able to become first-team players and help win football games.
“We’ve got some good players in our junior system. But there are so many different factors that happen when you go through your teenage years. So it depends on how dedicated they are and how hard they work. The ones that do work hard will get rewarded.”
And Peters is confident that his club isn’t the only one producing players of the right quality.
“When you look through the competition you see that there’s some good young talent coming through.
“I like the halves that are coming through in the English competition at the moment. And it’s usually healthy when you’ve got young kids coming through.
“So that’s the focus for us as a club going forward when I do move on.
“That’s got to be the aim, because essentially that’s how you have sustained success in a salary-cap sport, especially when you’re successful, like we were last year.
“Contracts go up, with individuals asking for more money, and if you’ve got young kids coming through, then, and you’ve got your older ones that are starting to retire, then, then that’s how you stay successful.
“We’re looking to emulate what clubs like Wigan, St Helens and Warrington are doing, because that’s the way forward. But we’re aware that we still need to improve and work on it.
“Paul Lakin and the board are fully aware of that.”