Sheffield Eagles have signed experienced Featherstone halfback Anthony Thackeray on a two-year contract.
Eagles coach Mark Aston had been looking for a proven playmaker to lead his new look-side around the field in 2019 and believes he has got the right man in Thackeray.
Aston said: “To be able to attract a player of Anthony’s stature to the club is great.
“The experience he will bring to the group, alongside a few others like Patch Walker and James Davey, will be invaluable, and he’s got some class as well and knows where the whitewash is.
“He will be a big part of us going forward.
“We’re building a team now and aren’t just surviving.
“We’ve a dozen or so players on two-year deals, because when the stadium is complete towards the end of 2019, we want to go into it with a bit of continuity, and the nucleus and backbone of a team.
“We’ve signed kids we will be able to develop for 2020 and beyond, and players that are the right sort of age to take us into the new stadium.”
Aston said talks are continuing with long-serving Papua New Guinean centre Menzie Yere after supporters raised the £5,000 needed for him and his family to apply for residency in this country.
Aston said: “Do we want Menzie in and around the club? One hundred per cent.
“He’s Sheffield Eagles through and through, the fans love him and you can see that by their reaction in raising money for him.
“The issue is whether his body is still up to it and will he get into the team, and discussions are ongoing.
“First of all Menzie needs to sort his residency out and this is a step in the right direction.
“Hopefully he can do that and he will be in and around the club again.”
