James Batchelor had his first taste of life in the middle on Friday night - and he's more than happy to carry on if Willie Peters tells him to. The Hull KR forward had a short stint in the heat of the battle during the Challenge Cup win over York, being brought on at prop for the closing stages of the game.

With an impressive level of depth at his disposal, it was always going to be fascinating to see who Willie Peters selected, and how he used them. The headline note was the inclusion of Kelepi Tanginoa. He made the matchday squad on the bench, taking on the same role as he did for the majority of last year.

Tanginoa played a much shorter stint that we had come to see last year, only entering the field in the final quarter. He replaced Batchelor who subsequently returned for the final minutes, taking up a role in the front-row while Tanginoa and Rhyse Martin took up their position wider out.

READ MORE: Hull KR set for Tyrone May boost as recent anguish triggers mindset shift

READ MORE: West Hull and St Helens crowd chaos leaves financial hit as call for help made

It was perhaps a small peek into the mind of Peters heading into the round one clash with Castleford Tigers on Friday, with Batchelor confirming there had been conversations about the role during the off-season.

"I think they said they needed a bit of punch in the middle so they brought Jared off and put me on," Batchelor joked. "Willie mentioned in the week that he might put me there. We've got a lot of competition for places and we had Kelepi on the bench who is devastating when he's on. Willie is trying a few different things to work out his best combinations."

Batchelor was in good spirits after reflecting on his potential role change.

"I think they say once you go in the middle, you can't get back out! I've done a few bits in there in pre-season. If a couple of middles go down at some point in the year, I might have to end up playing big minutes there. As long as I'm out there, I'm happy."

It was a satisfactory evening for Rovers, who were tested by York before running out comfortable winners.

"It's our first run-out so everything at this point of the season is about improving week to week," he said. "We'll look at the things we've done well to keep hold of them but there will be a lot of things we want to improve.

"Even some of the things that went well, we could probably do a bit better. We need to build on that every week."