Featherstone Rovers have announced the signings of three Australians with Ryley Jacks, Adam Cuthbertson and Ben Mathiou joining on the eve of the new Championship season.
The club have fallen short of promotion with defeats in the past two editions of the Million Pound Game but are intent on reaching Super League this season under new head coach Brian McDermott.
Jacks joins from Melbourne having made almost 50 NRL appearances across two spells with the Storm and a season with Gold Coast Titans.
The 29-year-old halfback has played internationally for Canada and becomes the latest impressive acquisition at Rovers.
“I had a discussion with Martin (Vickers) and Brian about a week ago about coming over to play for Featherstone,” said Jacks.
“I’ve always wanted to do it (play in the UK), knowing the story of how Featherstone have come so close in recent years, I really fancied the challenge of teaming up with Joey (Leilua) and the other boys to go that one step further. It’s the story that really made me want to come over.”
Prop forward Cuthbertson, 36, arrives in a player-coach role from fellow Championship side York City Knights.
A two-time winner of both Super League and the Challenge Cup in six seasons at Leeds Rhinos, much of the spell under McDermott, Cuthbertson has also played for four clubs in the NRL.
“The chance to work with Mac again was for me a brilliant opportunity, we’ve got a great relationship which continued well after our time at Leeds,” said Cuthbertson.
“With a passion for performance and coaching it was a no brainer for me when Mac approached me about joining him at Featherstone as a player coach.”
Mathiou, 26, is the son of former Leeds player Jamie Mathiou and like his father is a prop, and joins from North Devils.
“I’m really looking forward to being part of a successful club in the UK,” said Mathieu.
“Being involved with Featherstone, a club that has a lot of history and has inspired me to want to be a part of the team that works hard to help the club be promoted to Super League.”
Jacks and Mathiou are still in Australia, with the former potentially four weeks away from arriving in the UK and the latter expected to land in the next week.
