T'Other Side: Sheffield Eagles

T'Other Side: Sheffield Eagles

Head Coach: Mark Aston

Mark Aston

Would you believe it - this is Mark Aston’s 17th season as head coach of Sheffield Eagles! He started the re-born club in 2000 and is still the coach, although he stood down and was only Chief Executive in 2006 but took over the coaching again in 2007. When you add in his playing career he has been at Sheffield ever since 1985 with just one break for a little over a year when he was at Featherstone. A dynamic scrumhalf as a player he won the Lance Todd Trophy in 1998 when he lead Eagles to that amazing win over Wigan at Wembley. He also played for Great Britain.

Matt James

Captain: Matt James

The captaincy of the Eagles has been handed to Matt James this year. He can play at second row or prop. Matt is a Welsh international although back in 2005 he played in the England U18 side. His club career started with Bradford Bulls and has included spells with Barrow Raiders, Halifax and Harlequins RL before joining Featherstone in 2013. After 3 years at Rovers he moved to Sheffield.

The PNG Gang

On Good Friday, Menzie Yere played his 250th game for the Eagles having signed in 2009. During that time he has scored 182 tries including 12 hat tricks. He holds the Eagles record for tries in a season, scoring 46 in 2013. The success he has enjoyed must have been an instrumental factor in encouraging other PNG nationals to sign for Sheffield. Regularly in the side this year have been Garry Lo and Mark Mexico. Garry Lo joined them last year and is their leading try scorer so far this year with 13 tries including scoring 4 against Dewsbury Rams on Easter Monday. Mark Mexico came to England to play for Newcastle Thunder in 2015 but then joined the Eagles last season.

Four more to watch out for

Simon Brown, a goal-kicking stand off, was originally signed by the Eagles from Doncaster in 2010. He has returned after spells with York, Batley, Halifax and Hunslet and is their mqain goal-kicker. So far this year he has kicked 39 out of 47 attempts - an impressive success rate of 83%.

Elliott Minchella began with Leeds Rhinos Academy. He spent 2015 ion loan with London Broncos and signed for Sheffield in 2016. So far this year he has been an ever present at either scrum half or loose forward. He has also played for the England Academy team.

Ryan Millar is now in his third season. In 2015 and 2016 he played on the wing but he is now establishing himself in the fullback position.

Highly experienced prop forward, Scott Wheeldon, seems to like playing for rival clubs. He has played for both Hull teams, for London Broncos and Skolars and Castleford Tigers, but he actually made his professional first grade début for Fev whilst on loan from Hull FC in 2005.

The Fev Connection

The connection between Fev and the current Eagles squad starts with both the coach, Mark Aston and the captain, Matt James. There are four more members of the squad who have appeared for Rovers. Ben Blackmore played for Fev in 2014 and 2015. Duane Straugheir played twice in 2010 whilst on loan from Bradford and Kyle Trout played 15 times in 2014 under dual reg whilst at Wakefield. The fourth is Scott Wheeldon who made four loan appearances back in 2005.

The current Fev squad includes no less than 7 players who have been at Sheffield. They are: Cory Aston, Kyle Briggs, Keal Carlile, John Davies, Michael Knowles, Misi Taulapapa and Scott Turner.