Hull KR’s new prop Tom Garratt has his sights set on a quick return to Dewsbury and a second pre-season showdown against his old Academy club Huddersfield.
The Robins and the Rams, who have revived their dual-registration partnership of 2020, are to go head to head in a pre-season match at the Tetley’s Stadium, where the towering 27-year-old has spent the last three years, on Friday, January 21.
While Dewsbury are set to visit neighbours Batley on Boxing Day, it will be a first run-out for Rovers, who will next month head to Tenerife for a ten-day warm-weather training camp.
They will host one of coach Tony Smith’s former clubs Huddersfield, where Garratt was in the development system before moving into the amateur game with his old junior club Siddal, in a second pre-season outing on Sunday, January 30.
Former Giants back Sam Wood is another of Smith’s fresh faces as he attempts to improve on this year’s run to the play-off semi-finals.
The 2022 Super League season is set to start on Thursday, February 10, with the fixtures appearing in the Monday, November 29 issue of League Express.
Rovers paid Dewsbury an undisclosed transfer fee for 6ft 5in Garratt, who has signed a two-year contract and is enjoying his move into the full-time ranks after working as a lettings manager at a Halifax estate agency.
The former England Colleges player, who made 20 appearances and scored three tries this year, said: “I really liked the job, but it’s not full-time rugby, which we can all agree is better.
“Maybe some of the lads who haven’t had to work and went straight into rugby don’t know what that side of the game is like. Even when rugby is hard, it’s still your dream job.”
Having usually played for more than an hour a match, Garratt is prepared for shorter stints on the pitch.
“I know it will be a step up in physicality and speed especially. That was the thing that got me the most going from Siddal to Dewsbury,” he explained.
“Once you get your head around that, everything else comes with it, and it might be that 20 to 30-minute spells suit me better.”
The Robins have revealed details of their away strip for the new season, which will be yellow with a wavy blue band in the middle.
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