Huddersfield Giants are set to land England Academy hooker George Roby.
League Express can reveal the Giants have swooped for the teenager and they will welcome him to the club next year on a free transfer after making a move several months back.
Roby is currently in the Warrington Wolves youth system and represented England Academy last year.
Roby played a starring role alongside Canberra-bound Harry Rushton and Warrington team-mate Josh Thewlis in a 62-0 win over Wales under-19s last year.
With the Wolves, he was a star performer for their Under 18s side, who are coached by former Huddersfield head coach Paul Anderson.
In February, he was named in the England Academy Performance Squad alongside the likes of St Helens’ Lewis Dodd, Wigan’s Umyla Hanley and Hull’s Ben McNamara, who have all made their Super League debuts this year. A four-week tour of Australia and New Zealand was scheduled for this year, but Covid meant that was abandoned.
His arrival at Huddersfield is the Giants’ latest investment in young domestic talent.
Alongside an Academy that continues to produce players for their first-grade side, the Giants paid a significant transfer fee to Bradford Bulls last year to take another England Academy international in Oliver Wilson, who has gone on to play regularly in Super League.
Roby has yet to make his debut for Warrington, waiting in the wings behind England international Daryl Clark and Danny Walker.
He will work alongside Adam O’Brien at Huddersfield as well as James Cunningham, the Toronto hooker, who is set to join the Giants next season.
The Giants have a shortlist of coaches they are considering after applications from both hemispheres, but their emphasis on domestic talent is likely to be followed by the appointment of a British coach.
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