2026 Hull Kingston Rovers season

Hull Kingston Rovers 2026 season
Team information
Chairman	Neil Hudgell
Head Coach	Willie Peters
Captain	Elliot Minchella
Stadium	Sewell Group Craven Park
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The 2026 season will be Hull Kingston Rovers ' tenth consecutive season playing in England's top division of rugby league. They will compete in the 2026 Super League season, the 2026 Challenge Cup and, as Super League champions, the 2026 World Club Challenge.

Preseason friendlies

Date and Time	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
25 January; 14:00	Wakefield Trinity	H	Craven Park		–

World Club Challenge

Main article: 2026 World Club Challenge

On 6 November, it was confirmed that as reigning champions of the 2025 Super League season, Hull Kingston Rovers were to face the Brisbane Broncos, the reigning champions of the 2025 NRL season, in the World Club Challenge at the MKM Stadium. The match, the first time since 1986 that Hull Kingston Rovers will play against an Australian team, ^[1] was additionally planned to be hosted at Elland Road or Wembley Stadium as Craven Park was deemed too small to host the match, ^[2] with plans to host the match in either Las Vegas or Qatar also rejected. ^[3]

Date and Time	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	TV	Report
19 February, 19:30	Brisbane Broncos	H	MKM Stadium		–				BBC Three Sky Sports

Super League

Main article: 2026 Super League season

From 2026, the Super League expanded to 14 teams, with Toulouse Olympique and York Knights being promoted from the RFL Championship via the IMG Grading system. ^[4] At a meeting of all twelve Super League teams at the Headingley Rugby Stadium on 28 July 2025 to vote on the expansion proposal, Hull Kingston Rovers were one of three teams to vote against expanding the league, with the club preferring for expansion to have instead taken place ahead of the 2027 season. ^[5]

On 14 May 2025, it was announced that Hull Kingston Rovers would be part of the 2026 Rugby League Las Vegas event, playing their Round 3 fixture against the Leeds Rhinos at the Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. ^[6]

Fixtures

Hull Kingston Rovers' Super League 2026 fixtures were released on 27 November 2025: ^{[7] [8]}

Date and Time	Round	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	TV	Pos.	Report
12 February; 20:00	Round 1	York Knights	A	York Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports
TBC	Round 2	Warrington Wolves	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
28 February; TBC (GMT)	Round 3 (Rugby League Las Vegas)	Leeds Rhinos	N	Allegiant Stadium		–				Sky Sports Main Event
8 March; 15:00	Round 4	Huddersfield Giants	A	Kirklees Stadium		–				Sky Sports
21 March; 17:30 (GMT)	Round 5	Catalans Dragons	A	Stade Gilbert Brutus		–				Sky Sports BBC Sport
27 March; 20:00	Round 6	St Helens	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
3 April; TBC (Good Friday)	Round 7 (Rivals Round)	Hull F.C.	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
17 April; 18:00 (BST)	Round 8	Toulouse Olympique	A	Stade Ernest Wallon		–				Sky Sports
25 April; 15:00	Round 9	Bradford Bulls	A	Odsal Stadium		–				Sky Sports
30 April; 20:00	Round 10	Castleford Tigers	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
16 May; 17:30	Round 11	Leigh Leopards	A	Leigh Sports Village		–				Sky Sports
21 May; 20:00	Round 12	Wigan Warriors	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
6 June; 17:30	Round 13	Wakefield Trinity	A	Belle Vue		–				Sky Sports
12 June; 20:00	Round 14	York Knights	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
19 June; 20:00	Round 15	Leigh Leopards	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
26 June; 20:00	Round 16	Leeds Rhinos	A	Headingley Rugby Stadium		–				Sky Sports
4 July; TBC	Round 17 (Magic Weekend)	Hull F.C.	N	Hill Dickinson Stadium		–				Sky Sports + Main
11 July; 17:30	Round 18	Wakefield Trinity	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
18 July; 15:00	Round 19	Warrington Wolves	A	Halliwell Jones Stadium		–				Sky Sports
23 July; 20:00	Round 20	Hull F.C.	A	MKM Stadium		–				Sky Sports
31 July; 20:00	Round 21	Bradford Bulls	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
7 August; 20:00	Round 22	Castleford Tigers	A	Wheldon Road		–				Sky Sports
14 August; 20:00	Round 23	Catalans Dragons	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
20 August; 20:00	Round 24	Toulouse Olympique	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
27 August; 20:00	Round 25	Wigan Warriors	A	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports
4 September; 20:00	Round 26	Huddersfield Giants	H	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports
11 September; 20:00	Round 27	St Helens	A	BrewDog Stadium		–				Sky Sports

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bradford Bulls	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to Semi-finals
2	Castleford Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Catalans Dragons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to Eliminators
4	Huddersfield Giants	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Hull F.C.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Hull Kingston Rovers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Leeds Rhinos	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Leigh Leopards	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	St Helens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Toulouse Olympique	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Wakefield Trinity	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Warrington Wolves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Wigan Warriors	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	York Knights	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegated to Championship

Source:

Challenge Cup

Main article: 2026 Challenge Cup

Date and time	Round	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	TV	Report
7/8 February; TBC	Round 3		A			–

Transfers

Gains

Player	Club	Contract	Date
Tom Amone	Canterbury Bulldogs [a]	3 years	April 2025 [9]
Jumah Sambou	Oldham R.L.F.C.	3 years	May 2025 [10]
Declan Murphy	Salford Red Devils	3 years	August 2025 [11]
Cobie Wainhouse	Hull F.C.	2 years	August 2025 [12]
Jack Charles	Hull F.C.	4 years	October 2025 [13]
Jordan Dezaria	Catalans Dragons	3 years	October 2025 [14]
Tom Whitehead	Warrington Wolves	3 years	November 2025 [15]

Losses

Player	Club	Contract	Date
Neil Tchamambe	Wakefield Trinity	2 years	March 2025 [16]
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves	N/A	Retirement	April 2025 [17]
Kye Armstrong	TBC		September 2025 [18]
Michael McIlorum	N/A	Retirement	September 2025 [19]
Ajahni Wallace	Toulouse Olympique	1 year	October 2025 [20]
Danny Richardson	York Knights	2 years	October 2025 [21]
Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e	Catalans Dragons	1 year	October 2025 [22]
Lennie Ellis	Sheffield Eagles	1 year	October 2025 [23]
Eribe Doro	Bradford Bulls	2 years	October 2025 [24]
Leo Tennison	York Knights	1 year	November 2025 [25]
Kelepi Tanginoa	Warrington Wolves	2 years	November 2025 [26]

Squad

2026 Hull Kingston Rovers squad

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First team squad								Coaching staff
1 Arthur Mourgue – SH, SO, FB (gk) 2 Tom Davies – WG 3 Peta Hiku – CE, WG, FB 4 Oliver Gildart – CE 5 Joe Burgess – WG, CE 6 Mikey Lewis – SH, SO, FB, HK (gk) 7 Tyrone May – SO, CE, SH 8 Sauaso Sue – PR, LF, SR 9 Jez Litten – HK, SH 10 Tom Amone – PR 11 Dean Hadley – SR, LF, PR		12 James Batchelor (vc) – SR 13 Elliot Minchella (c) – SR, LF, HK 14 Jack Broadbent – CE, SO, FB, WG 15 Sam Luckley – PR, LF, SR 16 Jai Whitbread – PR 17 Rhyse Martin – SR, LF, CE (gk) 18 Jack Brown – LF, PR 20 Jordan Dezaria – PR, SR, LF 21 Noah Booth – CE, FB, SO 22 Bill Leyland – HK		23 Lee Kershaw – WG 24 Jack Charles – SO, SH 25 Louix Gorman – WG, FB 26 Harvey Horne – WG 27 Leon Ruan – SR 28 Zach Fishwick – PR 29 Tom Whitehead – SR, LF 30 Cobie Wainhouse – PR 31 Declan Murphy – FB 32 Jumah Sambou – WG, CE 33 Frankie Dearlove – SR				Head coach Willie Peters Assistant coaches Ian Watson David Hodgson Luke Gale Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) = suspended = injured (gk) = Goal kicker Updated: 8 December 2025 Source(s): Hull KR confirm 2026 Squad Numbers

Notes

1. Amone also spent a large portion of the 2025 season on loan to Castleford Tigers.

References

1. "World Club Challenge: Hull KR to host Brisbane Broncos as rugby league's battle for global supremacy returns in 2026". Sky Sports. 6 November 2025. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
2. Chapman Coombe, Louis (22 October 2025). "Shock venue touted to host World Club Challenge as bizarre reason given for UK switch". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
3. Shaw, Matthew (31 October 2025). "Hull KR and Brisbane Broncos receive mega offer to move World Club Challenge to Qatar". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 6 November 2025.
4. Freeman, Jay (17 October 2025). "York and Toulouse to play in expanded Super League". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
5. Bower, Aaron (28 July 2025). "The three clubs who did not vote for Super League expansion revealed". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
6. "Hull KR and Leeds Rhinos to meet in Las Vegas". BBC Sport. 14 May 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
7. "2026 Betfred Super League Fixtures revealed". Hull Kingston Rovers. 27 November 2025. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
8. "First Team Fixtures". Hull Kingston Rovers. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
9. "Hull KR sign Amone for 2026 after Castleford spell". BBC Sport. 15 April 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
10. "Hull KR sign Oldham centre Sambou for next season". BBC Sport. 1 May 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
11. Olawumi, Ben (1 August 2025). "Hull KR swoop to sign Salford Red Devils starlet as long-term contract length revealed". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
12. Tomlinson, Daniel (4 August 2025). "Hull KR sign young Hull FC prop with immediate effect". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
13. "Charles crosses city to join Hull KR". BBC Sport. 24 October 2025. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
14. "Hull KR sign France international Dezaria". BBC Sport. 28 October 2025. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
15. Olawumi, Ben (17 November 2025). "Hull KR swoop to sign Warrington Wolves starlet ahead of 2026 as long-term deal announced". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
16. Soanes, Matt (12 March 2025). "Winger Neil Tchamambe signs new deal with Wakefield Trinity". Rayo. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
17. "Jared Waerea-Hargreaves: Hull KR prop to retire at end of Super League season". Sky Sports. 14 April 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
18. Chapman Coombe, Louis (20 September 2025). "Hull KR confirm 10 exits as Michael McIlorum future clarified". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
19. "Hull KR's McIlorum to retire at the end of 2025". BBC Sport. 25 September 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
20. Olawumi, Ben (20 October 2025). "International forward lands permanent deal with Super League newcomers following Hull KR exit". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
21. Olawumi, Ben (21 October 2025). "Danny Richardson's first words as permanent York move confirmed following Hull KR departure". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
22. Walker, Callum (24 October 2025). "Hull KR fullback Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e signs for Catalans Dragons". Total Rugby League. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
23. Olawumi, Ben (27 October 2025). "Released Hull KR playmaker lands Championship deal for 2026 following Craven Park exit". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 27 October 2025.
24. "Bradford Bulls re-sign prop Doro". BBC Sport. 28 October 2025. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
25. Bower, Aaron (13 November 2025). "Hull KR forward set for switch to York Knights after Craven Park exit". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
26. "Warrington sign Hull KR forward Tanginoa". BBC Sport. 28 November 2025. Retrieved 2 December 2025.