Hull KR star played in Grand Final triumph with horrific injury as Willie Peters praises veteran duo

Hull KR hooker Michael McIlorum played in Saturday evening’s Super League Grand Final with a fractured ankle, Willie Peters has confirmed: before hailing him as the toughest player he has ever met.

McIlorum brought his career down in stunning fashion as the Robins were crowned champions of England for the first time in 40 years, clinching an historic an unprecedented treble with victory over Wigan Warriors.

There were doubts over whether McIlorum would be fit to feature after missing for a number of weeks, including last weekend’s play-off semi-final over St Helens.

And the scale of the injury suffered by McIlorum has now been revealed, with the former Wigan and England star playing through the pain barrier with an ankle that was fractured earlier in the year but has still not healed.

“He should not have played,” Peters revealed. “He’s got a fractured ankle still.

“It’s been fractured for a number of weeks. He went and got some scans, they told him it was still fractured and it was a matter of seeing how he handled it.

“He trained last week but for Micky Mac to say he was sore, you knew something was up. He couldn’t was, he was as sore as.

“But in his head, he was playing. He is the toughest I’ve ever seen. He’s walking away from training last week saying that didn’t feel right, and he needed to get it good.

“People ask if players should be in the 17 but for what he did out there, it was absolutely immense.

Peters also reserved praise for Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, who produced arguably his best game in a Hull KR shirt in the final match of his own stellar career.

“The big fella saved his best to the end,” Peters said. “What he’s brought us is hard to put a value on. People see the Jared from three years ago running over people and he hasn’t done that regularly because he’s 36.

“But when we have needed him, he has lifted us. It’s the things you don’t see.”