HUNSLET didn’t have long to celebrate their impressive promotion out of League One last season, with the clock ticking on a second-tier return after nine seasons away.
Yet no fewer than 18 players have been signed by the busy Leeds outfit, while still keeping most of last season’s key players with the exception of Jude Ferreira, Jack Render and retired Michael Knowles.
The eclectic mix of new additions is light on the sort of Championship experience a newly promoted club might usually look for, with only forward Kevin Larroyer and centre/backrower Liam Welham established figures at this level.
Whether Dean Muir can find the right formula like he did at the back end of last season – his first in charge – remains to be seen.
But if they can summon the kind of team spirit that got them into the Championship, they’ll have a fighting chance of staying there.
Watch out for… Noah Booth, a highly-rated young back at Hull KR who is set to spend the season on loan with Hunslet. Formerly of Castleford, Warrington and Wakefield, he played eight times for Trinity after joining the club at the beginning of 2024. If he can nail down a place at Hunslet (where he played one game on loan last year) it could be the launch of a good career.
Squad: 1 Jimmy Watson, 2 Mackenzie Scurr, 3 Alfie Goddard, 4 Billy Jowitt, 5 Mackenzie Turner, 6 Lachlan Hanneghan, 7 Matty Beharrell, 8 Harvey Hallas, 9 Ross Whitmore, 10 Matty Fletcher, 11 Ethan Wood, 12 Aaron Levy, 13 Jordan Syme, 14 Cam Berry, 15 Liam Carr, 16 Greg Eden, 17 Keelan Foster, 18 Brad Clavering, 19 Liam Welham, 20 Joe Gibbons, 21 Coby Nichol, 22 Harrison Gilmore, 23 Joe Hartley, 24 Dean Roberts, 25 Kobe Rugless, 26 Ethan O’Hanlon, 27 Sam Campbell, 28 Bailey Arnold, 29 Ryan Hall, 30 Noah Booth, 21 Kevin Larroyer.
Rugby League World predicts: 13th
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 505 (February 2025)
