HALIFAX PANTHERS on-loan halfback Myles Lawford is ready to follow the family way towards a bright future.
The 22-year-old is spending the season at The Shay – where his dad Dean had two playing spells – as he heads into the final year of his contract at Wakefield, who will be monitoring his performances closely.
Bradford product Lawford’s time at Trinity hasn’t quite panned out as he’d hoped, with a knee reconstruction required in mid-2024, his first season there.
He arrived after having represented Yorkshire and England at Academy level and impressed in the Bulls’ first team and during a spell on loan at Hunslet.
Lawford has played five times for the Wakefield first team while also having temporary stints back at Hunslet in 2024 and then at Batley, another of his father’s clubs, last year, as well as featuring for Trinity’s Reserves.
Dean, also a scrum-half, also played for Sheffield, Leeds, Dewsbury and Widnes, and Myles said: “He’s told me how passionate the Halifax fans are and that it’s a good environment.
“I’ve settled in well, training has been good, and I think we’re getting sharper as the season gets closer.”
Halifax, aiming to build on last year’s fifth-place finish and run to the play-off semi-finals, kick-off their campaign in the new merged second tier at Doncaster on Sunday.
And Lawford continued: “I’m looking forward to getting going, finding out what the new league structure is like and hopefully just getting back to playing my best rugby week in, week out.
“I like to play a running game when possible, and I want to be that commanding half who leads the team around the park.”
Lawford is also looking forward to a first taste of playing at The Shay, having missed out when the pre-season game against Rochdale, which was retiring winger James Saltonstall’s testimonial match, was frozen off.
“It’s a great track, and a great stadium,” he added.