HALIFAX PANTHERS have announced the signing of Ben Hursey on a one-year deal from Super League side Leeds Rhinos.
A London Broncos academy product who began his Rugby League journey with Invictus Panthers in Maidstone, the 21-year-old back-rower impressed on dual registration with the Panthers during the club’s Christmas Eve friendly at Odsal.
“I’m delighted to be here”, said Hursey. “I can’t wait to get going with the club, hopefully get some good minutes in and prove my point. When I played on Christmas Eve, conditions were tough but it was good to get around the boys, see how they play and just gel a bit so it was a good experience. I felt I played well, I played the second half and did my job so I was pretty happy with how I went.”
“I’d like to call myself an explosive player, strong, fast, just like to rip in where I can and do my job. I’m just hoping to get some game time, push the club as far as I can but sort of sponge off all the other experienced players here, learn as much as I can and progress my game. I was at London when Matty Gee was there so I know him but there’s some senior pros here in my position so I want to see how I can learn from them and be a better me.”
Panthers head coach Liam Finn continued: “Ben is a great lad with a great attitude. He turned up for the Christmas Eve game with very little training with us, came on at half time when everybody else was filthy and put himself about straight away with a couple of nice carries. He put himself about defensively as well, he’s a tough lad who wants to make his way in Rugby League.”
“I’ve spoken to Rohan Smith at Leeds about him, how well he’s been training and everything, but it was clear that he’s not quite ready to play first team at Headingley yet. When the opportunity to get him in our squad came up, to thicken our squad up especially after losing Brandon (Moore), it just gives us that bit of resilience and toughness in behind the back rowers we’ve got in Kav, Gee and Olly.”
“We’re not overly stacked in that position so hopefully we’ll get him out there in the not too distant future for the Halifax fans to see and you’ll see that for a lad young, he’s a big physical lad who likes getting his hands on the ball and he likes getting the hard work done, which is always appreciated in Halifax. The hard working town that it is, they love anyone like that and I think they’ll like him.”
“His work rate and his desire to improve his game is what he’s good at, he just wants to learn off those around him and being around people like Kav will do him no harm as well. He’s still going to train a bit at Leeds as he’s at university over there and has the chance to do that so he’s got some good pros to learn off over there as well. I think he’s got a lot of improvement in him but at the same time, he’s got the toughness and the ability to not let his teammates down and be ready to step in as and when we need him.”
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