Willie Peters on the people and pride behind his remarkable Hull KR legacy

"I understand what the fans are looking for because I'm looking for the same thing," he told The Yorkshire Post shortly after arriving at Craven Park as a rookie head coach in 2022.

"What the fans want is a team that competes every week. That needs to be our DNA. The fans are passionate and we need to give them a team that they're proud of.

"There's no doubt it's the right fit for me. It's an exciting time for the club where we can go to that next level."

Four years, a Challenge Cup, a League Leaders' Shield, a Super League Grand Final triumph and a World Club Challenge title later, Peters left having delivered on his early promises – and then some.

Yet as he reflects on a remarkable spell at the helm of the Robins, it is not the trophies that mean the most to him. It is the people and the bond between a club and a community that drove him throughout his time in charge at Craven Park.

"There's no doubt it's what this team does for the community and what the community does for the team," he says when asked about his greatest source of pride as Rovers boss on the eve of his departure.

"Our whole aim was always to make our community proud. How you do that is through your on-field performance and what you do in the community.

"The thank-yous that the fans have given to me personally and us as a team are nice but we want to thank them.

"When you talk about a club that truly plays for their community, it's Hull KR. My next move is going to be doing that for a country, which I'm excited about. That was a big reason why I did accept the job. It's important to play for something bigger than yourself."

Peters has already begun his next chapter, arriving in Papua New Guinea this week to a vibrant traditional welcome as he prepares to help the Chiefs take their first steps into the NRL.

The foundations he left behind at Craven Park offer a blueprint for what he hopes to achieve in his new role.

When Peters arrived, the Robins had ambition but were not conditioned for silverware – quite literally.

Their final game of the 2022 Super League season offered a telling snapshot of the challenge facing the Australian.

Hull KR beat Hull FC with just 16 men to secure an eighth-place finish, a depleted squad reflecting the injury problems that had undermined their campaign.

Peters set about changing that from day one. Training standards rose, intensity increased and the Robins developed the resilience to withstand the demands of a long season.

They became a finely tuned machine, built to go toe-to-toe with the best.

Victory over Wigan Warriors in his first game offered an early glimpse of what Peters believed the Robins could achieve.

"You hope," he says. "That's what the plan was coming over – you want to be successful.

"I've always had a belief that when it comes to professional sport, you should be in it to win trophies and go as far as you can go.

"Initially, our goal was to be a top-four club in everything that we did. We achieved that a little bit early in our first year; we were looking to do that in year two or year three.

"Once you do that, expectation – more from yourselves as a group – comes into play. Then we obviously finished second the year after.

"Once you do that, there's only one place left to go. We felt we recruited the right people in for that third year to be able to do it.

"We got in the players that we needed in terms of aggression and guys that other teams feared. We had a team that was highly competitive and worked hard for each other but those two gave us another edge."

Those players were Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Michael McIlorum, grizzled veterans with unrivalled competitive streaks.

Together, they helped Rovers take the final step from challengers to champions.

After waiting 40 years for one trophy, three came along at once. At the start of this year, they became world club champions.

"Winning the Super League is the pinnacle," says Peters.

"All of the other trophies are special. The Challenge Cup has so much history and the way we won that was incredible. That euphoric feeling was incredible.

"But when we'd just won the treble, I knew we'd created a legacy as a group. I got sent a video the other day of how happy the fans were in the concourse after the game (at Old Trafford).

"In saying all that, the World Club Challenge was incredible as well. We went over to FC's stadium and packed it out with red and white. The atmosphere was electric."

But Peters' side would never reach those heights again. They were humbled by Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas the following week and their early-season exertions eventually caught up with them.

A fourth consecutive play-off appearance ended in disappointment at Warrington Wolves, bringing the curtain down on Peters' transformational spell in charge.

The loss of influential duo Waerea-Hargreaves and McIlorum only told part of the story.

"You miss anyone's presence and experience when they were as successful as those guys," says Peters.

"But we knew that we had those guys for a year so it wasn't as if they'd been with us for a long period. It was one year to help the team understand what intensity looked like on and off the field.

"There are a lot of reasons behind why we finished where we did this year. I still found it successful in a lot of ways.

"It was a really, really demanding draw. If you look at it, nobody has done that.

"It was the first time that we'd been in this position; it's not as if we were a Wigan and used to winning competitions. They can do it year in, year out but I even think they may have even struggled in those circumstances.

"I'm not saying we're happy with where we finished but you certainly get a lot of learnings. That's the most important part.

"I did learn a lot this year and I'm sure the players learnt a lot. The incoming coach would have learnt watching as well."

Strong foundations

Peters has laid strong foundations for successor Nathan Cayless.

The challenge for the former New Zealand captain is to build on that success while putting his stamp on the team.

"Just from hearing him talk, I think he gets it early," says Peters.

"He'll put his own spin on it and doesn't need me to help him with that.

"I think he'll have similar values. What I know about Nathan is he's a good person and gets what this club is about."

Peters bought into what Hull KR stood for from the moment he arrived and was rewarded with a spell that brought unprecedented success.

His impact is reflected in not only the silverware but the relationships he built during four years at Craven Park, which gave the experience a deeper meaning.

Professional sport is often measured in results, with success judged by trophies won and milestones reached. Yet Peters' reflections on his time with the Robins repeatedly return to the people who made those achievements possible and the sense of belonging that has grown around the club.

It is a connection that extends beyond what happens on the pitch. For Peters, Hull KR has been a place where people can find support through difficult times, bound together by a shared identity and a willingness to lean on one another.

Asked what he will miss most, his answer comes without hesitation.

"The people, for sure," says Peters.

"You look at (MND sufferer) Craig Eskrett and what he means to us and what we mean to him. There are people who are not doing so great but they have a club and people to lean on to help get through things.

"It's a working-class area. What I love the most is that you can lean on each other through tough times – and we have.

"I caught up with Neil Hudgell one last time. He's just a genuinely good person and that's the owner of the club.

"I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by people like that. That's the thing I'm going to miss most.

"The trophies have given us reunions to look forward to. That's mainly to see all those special people again."