When Hulse returned to fitness, he was given a three-month loan to then-Northern Premier League side Hyde United, where he scored 9 goals in 11 appearances during the 1999–2000 season.

Hulse quickly became a fans' favourite at Crewe, thanks to his high work-rate and finishing the 2000–01 and 2001–02 seasons as the club's top goalscorer with 11 and 12 goals respectively.

The club were relegated at the end of the 2001–02 season, but Hulse, along with Dean Ashton and Rodney Jack, proved to be too much for fellow Division Two defences to handle in 2002–03.

[4] Despite Crewe's promotion back to Division One, Hulse rejected a new contract and manager Dario Gradi decided to sell him instead of letting him go on a Bosman.

[7] He made his debut for West Brom in their 4–1 opening day defeat at Walsall, and scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 home win over Brentford in the League Cup 1st Round.

After recovering from this injury, Hulse made a further 19 appearances and finished the season as the club's top scorer in all competitions with 13 goals, helping Albion secure promotion back to the Premier League.

Despite his influential role in the previous year's promotion campaign, Hulse was given little chance to prove himself in the top flight and was largely kept out of the first team by summer signings Robert Earnshaw and Nwankwo Kanu.

Having played a relatively small number of games in comparison to his fellow strikers at West Brom, Hulse decided to join Leeds United on loan for the final three months of the 2004–05 campaign instead of a £1.2 million switch to Stoke City.

On 17 March, Hulse and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech challenged for the ball in a league game at Stamford Bridge, resulting in a horrific injury.

[25] Derby accepted a bid of £4 million on the final day of the 2009 summer transfer Window, but Hulse rejected the move, citing his fondness for club as the reason.

A combination of injuries and Derby's struggling form saw Hulse grab just two more goals before surgery ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign.

[31] Leeds United also expressed an interest in re-signing Hulse, with Derby coach Gary Crosby stating "As much as we'd like to keep Rob, financially, we will maybe look to sell him.

[33] He was later linked with a possible return to the top flight with a £1 million move to newly promoted Blackpool, though his wage was suggested to be a stumbling block.

Hulse started the 2010–11 campaign with the opening goal in a 2–1 victory at previous club Leeds United but was again consistently linked with a move away from the club, this time to Cardiff City, this time with the possibility of a cash-plus-Ross McCormack deal[35] (although McCormack later joined Leeds United)[36] and Queens Park Rangers.

In June 2011, ahead of the 2011–12 season, Hulse turned down a loan move to Millwall, stating a desire to break into the QPR first team.

[39] However he was then left out of Queens Park Rangers 25-man squad for the Premier League season 2011–12 by Neil Warnock and in November 2011 was linked with a loan moves to Championship clubs Doncaster Rovers,[40] Blackpool,[41] however Hulse stayed at Rangers and after Warnock was sacked in January 2012, Mark Hughes the new manager chose Rob Hulse to be in a 25-man squad.