FEATHERSTONE ROVERS have agreed to release one of their forwards to a Championship rival.
That forward is Dan Fleming, who has since agreed to sign for Halifax Panthers.
“It’s brilliant to be back”, said Fleming. “I’m a Halifax lad, my kids support Halifax, I get a bit of stick wherever I go about it but hopefully, I won’t be going anywhere else now. I’m really happy to get this done. I think Simon’s fed up of me texting him but I’m just chuffed to bits to be back and I can’t wait to get started.”
“Obviously, I was travelling over to Featherstone and I wasn’t getting the game time I wanted. I’m coming towards the end of my career, I’m not as old as Bob (Fairbank) yet but yeah, I’m hoping to have a few more years left and I want to finish down here. I like to think I still base my game on hard work and turning up for my teammates and knowing that they can rely on me. I’m going to try and give everything I can for the shirt when I get the opportunity.”
Panthers boss Simon Grix commented: “Dan’s obviously been up against it at Fev and not been happy there for a while and he gets the opportunity to get out and get to an environment he knows quite well. He’s obviously someone we know quite well but he’s really proud to wear our shirt which goes a long way. He’s a good player, he’s got some qualities that we miss in our group so I’m looking forward to getting him in.”
“A couple of blokes left in pre season and then Ryan King followed that and the idea way back then was that we’d replace them. For a number of reasons, we haven’t been able to and we’ve got some needs in our squad. Performances have highlighted some of those needs and that’s what we’ve tried to fix with some of the recent signings. We’re still not a closed book on recruitment, we’re still looking in one or two areas that we probably need to improve but at the same time between money and player availability, we just need to be patient and keep going with it.”
Halifax Panthers Director of Rugby Richard Durgan added: “It’s great to have a local lad back who’s really keen to help the cause and play for the club. Dan would probably have got better offers elsewhere but he wanted to come and play at home so we’re really pleased that he’s showing that passion, desire and loyalty to his hometown club where he belongs. Thanks to Dave Peet, Dan’s agent, who has got this over the line very quickly. We’re looking forward to seeing Dan in action with the Panthers.”
