WILLIE PETERS says Hull KR are moving in the right direction off the field and the players now need to match that on the field.
The Robins have added David Kilburn to their board of directors and are redeveloping Craven Park. Peters has taken the coaching reins at the club and knows his team must deliver after missing the top eight last season.
“You’ve always got high targets,” he told League Express.
“Our owner, Neil Hudgell, has made some serious statements around the board that we’re assembling. Obviously, the people he’s got underneath him, Paul Lakin who’s our CEO, we’re getting the right people in the right places and there’s a lot of ambition to do well as a club going forward.
“There’s no point doing a pre-season and doing what we do every week if we’re not striving for finals. That’s where we want to be.
“We’ve got our internal targets and beliefs where we want to be, but you’ve got to go out and prove it and show it through your actions.
“Going on what we’ve done in pre-season, the team’s doing well. The boys are ready to trial now come round one against Wigan. We’re an ambitious club and we’re definitely a club going in the right direction.”
Peters joined Hull KR from his post as an assistant coach with the Newcastle Knights and before then he spent several years coaching in the junior pathways of several NRL clubs, including the Wests Tigers and South Sydney, and sees junior development as a key focus for him at the Robins.
“For sure, I got all my learning around that when I was at the Rabbitohs,” the 43-year-old said.
“Michael Maguire did a great job having the vertical alignment from the top down and we’re setting systems up like that at Hull KR.
“But for me, for sustained success – you only have to look at the Rabbitohs now, there are so many players in that team that came through together. And have a look at Penrith, two of the top sides and the majority of them would be local juniors.
“To build sustained success is to build within first. That’s my philosophy and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of that in the next couple of years.”
