There’s been some cracking mid-season Super League signings over the years and I do feel it’s a good ability to have.
You see the excitement deadline day brings in football and it makes sense in rugby league that clubs should be able to do it, too, given the sheer length of our season. Coaches can refresh their squad while players can move from clubs where maybe it just hasn’t worked out and they can get back to doing what they love doing: playing.
Famously, there was also the Andrew Johns deal at Warrington while I was at Bradford Bulls when we signed Adrian Morley and he helped us win the 2005 Grand Final. We also brought in Ian Henderson that year in mid-season. He really helped us kick on. There’s been others like Ali Lauitiiti who had the same effect on Leeds Rhinos when he joined them in 2004 while Stu Fielden left Bradford for Wigan for the other reason in 2006: to help them avoid relegation.
There’s been plenty of transfer activity this week in Super League ahead of the deadline. Matt Dufty will definitely add something to Warrington. I’ve watched him and he’ll be good for them. And they need some players. He’ll be a Daryl Powell player and, at the moment, there looks to be two different factions at the Wolves with plenty going out the other way like Mike Cooper, Toby King and Josh Charnley.
But he’s building long-term and the club’s backing Daryl. Rightly so. He’s a proven record of delivering success and getting the most out of players.
Wakefield have also been busy and their signings are timely given how Toulouse have improved. Jamie Shaul’s a long-term, very good, proven Super League player who could give them a lift. But he needs to settle in quickly: there’s not many games left so any new players need to hit the ground running. And not just hit the ground.
BETFRED - PASSIONATE ABOUT SUPER LEAGUE
