SHEFFIELD EAGLES centre Will Oakes has signed up for another season while the club continue their search for a new coach.
It was Craig Lingard, who recently vacated the hot seat, who brought the Scotland international who represented England at Academy level to the Eagles late in the 2025 campaign.
Oakes, 27, had been at Hull KR (having come through the old City of Hull Academy after being in the Scholarship system at Wakefield), Dewsbury, York, Bradford and Batley.
But at both the Bulls and the Bulldogs, he struggled with injury issues and was unable to make a competitive appearance.
Since joining Sheffield, Oakes has played 25 times, notching three tries, and earlier this year, finally featured for Batley in a four-match loan spell.
Having made his Hull KR debut as a 17-year-old in 2016, he has topped 100 career outings, including Scotland’s 50-4 defeat by Tonga in Cairns during the 2017 World Cup.
Weeks after playing for England Academy, heritage player Oakes got a late call-up from then-Scotland coach Steve McCormack to replace injured Ryan Brierley, now the chief executive of the Eagles’ divisional rivals Salford.
Having established himself as a Sheffield regular and built a useful right-edge partnership with Joe Brown, he is looking to push on in 2027 as the Eagles work to build on this year’s seventh-place finish.
Sheffield have also retained Corey Johnson, taking them to 16 confirmed squad members with Matty Marsh, Brown, Billy Walkley, Kieran Gill, Josh Hodson, Jordan Lilley, Jordan Abdull, Conor Fitzsimmons, Martyn Reilly, George Griffin, Blake Broadbent, Lewis Peachey, Harry Bowes and Joel Farrell also under terms.
