Willie Peters insists Hull KR must have higher standards after ending promising season on sour note

The Australian became KR head coach in late 2022 and fell agonisingly short of ending the club's 38-year wait for major silverware in the Challenge Cup final.

But after guiding Rovers to a top-four finish and within 80 minutes of a maiden Grand Final, Peters saw his side produce one of their worst performances of the campaign in a 42-12 hammering at Wigan Warriors.

"It's a good first season but what we want to do is be great," said Peters. "The challenge for us now is to be great at this level. Wigan do it most years and that's what we're striving to do.

"We will get our learnings like Wembley and it'll make us hungrier."

Rovers found themselves 18-0 down after 13 minutes and conceded four more tries in a 16-minute period at the start of the second half.

Peters' men could only respond through tries from Elliot Minchella and Jez Litten in either half.

“It’s been a wonderful journey but it’s certainly not the way we wanted it to end," said Peters.

“Obviously we didn’t start well in both halves which hurt us and we had no momentum in the game which is disappointing.

“But overall I’m extremely proud of the whole club for what we’ve achieved this year. We’ve come a long way but we’re not where we wanted to be. We want to be playing in those major games.”

Peters paid special tribute to club stalwart Shaun Kenny-Dowall whose decorated playing career came to an end in disappointing fashion.

“Shaun is going to be very difficult to replace for what he brings this team on and off the field but the fortunate thing for us is that we’ve got him around next season,” said Peters, who has added the New Zealander to his staff as a development coach.

“What he has done for our club, he’s going to go down as one of the best overseas players, if not the best.”

The build-up to the semi-final was overshadowed by talk of assistant coach Danny McGuire leaving the club in a surprise exit.

Peters has insisted the background noise had no bearing on the result at the DW Stadium.

"Not at all," he said.

"It's just one of those. We need to look at what we did during the week leading into the game. We'll look at everything."