Huddersfield Giants have confirmed that Oliver Roberts has signed a new deal with the club until the end of the 2023 season, which was first reported in League Express on 1st January, indicating a Happy New Year present for Giants supporters.
The forward has overlooked interest from other clubs to commit his long-term future to the Giants, admitting that he didn’t see himself moving anywhere else.
He said: “I’m really happy. When I came back from Australia I had a bit of interest from other clubs however I like it here, I enjoy the boys. I enjoy the staff, I love the club and I love where it’s going. I want to be here and be a part of that. I had no temptation to go anywhere else.”
“It’s a good club. The boys are good, the staff’s good. I see this club going in the right ways. Rick Stone is going the right way and doing good stuff, I can see us winning trophies and that’s why I want to be here.
“Signing a new five-year deal doesn’t mean I’m sitting on the back burner; I’m not smoking no cigar. I want to be cracking on. I want to keep playing and I have a lot of goals which I want to achieve personally. This doesn’t mean that I’m secure now, I want to try and secure a new deal. Nothing is ever enough and you can’t be satisfied with what you’ve already got.”
Giants head coach Rick Stone was understandably delighted to tie down a player of Roberts’ ability, adding: “I think it’s a good thing for us and for Ollie. Good quality players are hard to find and when you’ve brought someone of that quality through from a young age then we’d obviously like to keep them. He’s still got a little bit to learn and he’ll be the first to admit that but he’s a prospect that can hopefully be a great player here for a long time.
“He brings a line-break ability, he carries the ball well, he’s hard to put down and can score a try. He’s a handful to the opposition but he’s still working on becoming an 80 minute back-rower and is becoming better every week. I’d like to think that we’ll continue to see that improvement in him for the next couple of years.”
