BRADFORD BULLS have signed Australian forward Phoenix Steinwede on a deal until the end of this season.
Steinwede, who can play in the front and back row, has had spells at Sydney Roosters and Gold Coast Titans in recent years.
He played in the New South Wales Cup for the Roosters’ second string and in the Queensland Cup with Titans affiliate Tweed Seagulls.
But the 23-year-old was limited to only six appearances for the latter last season due to injury, and after playing one game this year has moved to Super League.
Steinwede said: “I landed this (Monday) morning and have met the boys and the staff, and for me this is a really exciting career opportunity because of what the club are building here having watched their style of footy.
“I am excited to be a part of it, learn from Kurt (Haggerty, Bradford head coach) and jump on the back of what the boys are doing and hopefully have a good year.
“This is about challenging myself now, getting into full-time (rugby) and seeing where it can take me and develop my game in the best ways I can.
“I feel like this is the best leap forward in my career and the opportunity was in front of me so I jumped at it.”
Like many Super League sides, Bradford have endured a string of early-season injuries, including in the pack.
Dan Russell, Eribe Doro and Ebon Scurr will each be out for at least another month due to knee, ankle and hamstring injuries respectively while off-season signing Will Gardiner is yet to make his debut because of a hamstring issue.
Bradford signed Jack Ormondroyd on loan from Oldham for the rest of the season last week, and also brought in Tray Lolesio on a one-week loan, from which he has now returned to Wakefield Trinity.
Bulls boss Haggerty said of Steinwede: “He’s young, he’s big, he’s athletic and he suits how we want to play so we’re really happy to get him over the line.
“Phoenix was actually brought to my attention when I first came to the club but because things happened so quickly, we just had to get so many players over the line in a short space of time.
“I’ve seen him play for the Titans in the trial game against St George and there are a lot of things that he did in that game that showed to me that he’s potentially a really good player for the Bradford Bulls.
“We’re going pretty well at the moment and we have some wins under our belt but we need to keep strengthening to take that next step.”