Hull KR coach’s emotional Neil Hudgell tribute as Willie Peters offers first words on Grand Final
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters
Hull KR coach Willie Peters has dedicated the club’s thrilling play-off semi-final win to the club’s owner, Neil Hudgell – and insists Hudgell will be brought into the club this week to remind the players of how far they have come.
Rovers will play in the Super League Grand Final for the first time in their history next weekend, after a dramatic 10-8 victory over Warrington Wolves booked their maiden Old Trafford appearance.
It is a remarkable turnaround for a club who were bottom of Super League as recently as four years ago. Hudgell has invested millions into the club to help them reach this point – with him almost walking away from the club on multiple occasions.
But now, he has the chance to watch the Robins play in a major final once again – and potentially win their first major trophy since 1985.
And Peters admitted he will hopefully be able to call on Hudgell to speak to his squad about the club’s journey.
“It’s huge,” he said.
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“This journey started before I got here. Neil Hudgell has done a remarkable job and so much investment has gone into the club. Neil was going to leave himself and we’re going to get him in Monday, hopefully he tells the full story. For people like Neil, this is really special for him.
“It’s important he continues to tell his story and people know about it.”
When asked about the performance, Peters was understandably proud of his players.
He said: “They’ve done this all season. They had to dig deep and I’m really proud but there’s one to go. We’ll enjoy this and then we’ll reset and go one better next week.
“We just had to keep fighting and holding on. There’s a few technical things that went out of whack while we were under pressure but the main message was to keep fighting for each other and we certainly did that. Goal-kicking was the only thing that separated it, it was a very tight game but I’m proud of the boys.”
