NEWCASTLE THUNDER have handed a one-year deal to Bailey Pemberton, the younger brother of their hooker Taylor Pemberton.
They have also signed the 21-year-old backrower’s fellow forwards Bailey Dawson and Kieran Moran as they continue to assemble a squad to play under new coach Craig Huby.
While Taylor Pemberton, 23, featured 22 times for Newcastle last season, Bailey sent the second half of it with Rochdale after leaving Leigh, who had loaned him to North Wales.
The St Helens Academy product who turned out four times for Crusaders and twice for Hornets inked up with the Leopards in 2024, playing for their Reserves.
“Newcastle are building and it’s a privilege to be part of it,” he said. “Playing alongside my brother will be special.”
Ex-Hull KR, Castleford and Dewsbury secondrower Dawson, 23, finished the 2026 campaign at North Wales after a mid-season move from Goole.
Scotland international Moran, 30, has switched from Midlands (now Birmingham) Hurricanes, having started his career at Hull KR, from whom he had a three-match Newcastle loan spell in 2016.
He has also been at Sheffield, Keighley and Hunslet and said: “I’m ready for a new challenge.”
Versatile Alex Clegg, 27, who played wing, centre and secondrow for Newcastle in 2023, has rejoined after a stint in Australia with Stanley River Wolves, of the Sunshine Coast competition.
