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| Born | (1979-03-01)1 March 1979 (age 46) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 166 cm (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (11 st 11 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Halfback | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:[1] As of 15 March 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Willie Peters (born 1 March 1979) is an Australian professionalrugby league coach who is the head coach ofHull Kingston Rovers in theSuper League and a former professionalrugby league footballer. Peters played in the 1990s and 2000s for theSouth Sydney Rabbitohs as ahalfback.[2] He had also previously played for theSt George Illawarra Dragons as well as in England forGateshead,Widnes andWigan.
Willie Peters was born inSydney, Australia.Peters is ofGreek heritage.
While playing for Souths in the 1990s, coachCraig Coleman declared that Peters could be the nextPeter Sterling.[3]In 1999, Peters joined Gateshead before joining Wigan in 2000. Peters played for theWigan Warriors at scrum half back in their2000 Super League Grand Final loss againstSt Helens
In 2001, Peters joinedSt. George playing with the club for two seasons before returning to Souths in 2003. Peters played his two final seasons in Australia with South Sydney where the club finished with back to back wooden spoons. In 2004, Peters joined Widnes and played one season with the club before retiring.[4]
In 2016, Peters became head coach of theWests TigersHolden Cup team. In 2017, Peters became the assistant coach atManly Warringah Sea Eagles. After the controversy mentioned below, Peters became an NRL assistant coach underWayne Bennett at theSouth Sydney Rabbitohs in 2019,[5][6] before joining with the Newcastle Knights in 2020 as assistant coach.
In May 2022, Peters was named as the new coach ofHull KR, succeedingTony Smith. Peters took charge at the end of the2022 season.[7]On 12 August 2023, Peters guided Rovers to the2023 Challenge Cup Final againstLeigh, however, the club would lose 17-16 after golden point extra-time.[8]Peters later guided Hull KR to fourth place, and qualification for the playoffs, where they reached the semi-final, but were defeated 42-12 against Wigan.[9]In 2024, Peters guided Hull Kingston Rovers to theGrand Final, after narrowly defeatingWarrington 10–8 in the semi finals. On 8 October 2024, Peters was named as the Super League coach of the year. On 12 October 2024, Peters coached Hull Kingston Rovers in their2024 Super League Grand Final loss against Wigan.[10]
On 15 September 2017, Peters left his position at Manly after it was alleged he had been involved in a fight with another Manly staff member at apub inThe Rocks, Sydney. Peters was issued with an infringement notice by police for offensive behaviour. The Manly club later released a statement which read "The Sea Eagles will not tolerate misconduct and expect all employees to represent the club at the highest standard," Manly owner and chairman Scott Penn said. "All employees agree to the club's code of conduct and know what is expected of them. We must uphold these standards and will not accept any avoidable breach of conduct".[11]