T'Other Side: Dewsbury Rams

T’Other Side: Dewsbury Rams

2019 Matches

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: Lee Greenwood

Lee Greenwood took over as Dewsbury Rams head coach this season following the resignation of Neil Kelly at the end of last season. In the community game he has coached Siddal ARL and he was coach of Gloucestershire All Golds during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

During his playing career he played mainly on the wing but occasionally at centre. His career started at Sheffield Eagles in 1999 and he moved to Halifax where he played from 2000 to 2003. After that he played for London Broncos, Huddersfield Giants and Leigh Centurions before returning to Halifax for two more seasons in 2007. He ended his career with one season at Oldham and his last year at Batley in 2010.

In 2004 he was picked for England in matches against Russia and Ireland.

Captain: Paul Sykes

Having begun his career with the Bradford Bulls in 1999, after two seasons Paul Sykes moved to London Broncos and stayed with them for 7 seasons. In 2008 he returned to the Bulls and then moved onto Wakefield in 2012.

After 16 seasons in the Super League he came to Featherstone Rovers in 2015 and then signed for Dewsbury Rams in 2016.

Now 37 years old his long career has so far given him a total of 446 appearances, 143 tries, 868 goals and 17 drop goals. That’s a total of 2,324 points. At representative level Paul has played for England, England A, Northern Union and Great Britain.

New Signings for 2019

It is rather strange that Dewsbury, who are not participating in the reserves competition this year, have made 15 new signings and most of those are yet to play and two of them have only made one or two appearances off the bench.

Jordan Andrade is a Prop Forward, signed from Bradford Bulls. He made his début for Oxford in 2015 and then played for North Wales in 2016 and Gloucestershire All Golds in 2017. He is a Jamaican international.

Liam Johnson is a second row or centre also signed from Bradford. He began with Huddersfield in 2016 and spent part of that year on loan at Oldham and played for Sheffield on loan in 2017.

Danny King who plays at second row is the third signing from Bradford.. He is yet to make his professional début.

Simon Brown is an experienced halfback who Dewsbury signed from Sheffield. He started at Doncaster in 2010 but moved to Sheffield later in the year. In 2013 he joined York moving to Halifax in 2014 and also played for Batley on loan. In 2015 he signed for Hunslet, returning to Sheffield in 2017.

Probably the most significant new signing is Liam Finn who joined Newcastle Thunder this year but then moved to Dewsbury earlier this month. His career started at Halifax in 2002 and he joined Wakefield in 2004. In 2005 he initially came to Fev on loan and then signed later in the year. From 2006 until 2009 he was at Dewsbury and then returned to Fev in 2010. In 2014 he followed Daryl Powell to Castleford and returned to Wakefield in 2016. At the end of last season he played 6 games on loan with Widnes. Liam is an Irish international and has been their captain.

Winger, Andy Gabriel has been signed from Keighley Cougars where he had been since his career started in 2015.

Also signed from Keighley is prop forward Harvey Hallas who made his professional début last season. He was previously in the Wakefield Trinity academy.

Cameron Leeming, centre, has also joined from Keighley. His career started with Hunslet in 2017.

Liam Mackay, loose forward has joined from Hunslet. He made his professional début with Fev in 2012, and joined Hunslet in 2014.

Matt Nicholson, prop or loose forward, has also signed from Hunslet. His career began with Dewsbury in 2012 and he joined York in 2013, Doncaster in 2016 and then Hunslet in 2017.

Tom Garratt has joined the ranks of professional players having signed from Siddal ARL. He is a prop forward and has been a regular starter in the team this year.

Second Rower, Charlie Martin has been signed from Doncaster. He made his début with Castleford in 2013 and played for Keighley (2013) and Batley (2014) both on dual registration. In 2015 he played for Hunslet and returned to Keighley in 2016 before joining Doncaster in 2017.

20 year old Jack Ray (second row) has signed from Castleford. He is yet to make his professional début. The same is true for centre or second row Jack Richardson who has been signed from Huddersfield Giants.

Jacob Thomas is an Australian halfback or fullback who came to England to take up a job in Leeds. He played for Normanby Hounds in the Brisbane Cup.

Harvey Whiteley is a 20 year old hooker who was at Leeds Rhinos Academy. He is another who is yet to make his professional début.

Dual Registration and loan signings

Dewsbury have chosen not to have a dual registration agreement this year. In 2017 and 2018 they had one with Wakefield Trinity.

So far this year they have taken seven players on loan, some of whom might have returned to their parent clubs. The loan signings are:

Chris Annakin (prop) and Luke Hooley (fullback) from Wakefield.

Callum Field (prop or loose forward) and Samy Kibula (second row) from Wigan.

Owen Harrison (prop or second row) from Hull KR.

Muizz Mustapha and Owen Trout (both second row) from Leeds.

The Fev connection

There is a long tradition of players who have played for both Dewsbury and Featherstone.

The ten former Fev players in the Dewsbury squad this year or have been there on loan this year (with the dates they were at Fev) are:

Chris Annakin (2014 - on dual reg from Wakefield), Sam Day (2016 and 2017), Liam Finn (2005 and 2010-2013), Daniel Igbinedion (2017), Michael Knowles (2017), Liam Mackay (2012), Muizz Mustapha (2018 - on loan from Leeds), Jode Sheriffe (2010), Paul Sykes (2015) , Kyle Trout (2014 and 2015 - on dual reg from Wakefield) and Robbie Ward (2016). In addition, Charlie Martin (who is currently on loan with Hunslet) had a short loan spell with Fev (from Castleford), but never got to play for the first team.

There are 4 players who have played for Fev this season who have previously played for Dewsbury. They are John Davies (2012 - on dual reg from Castleford), James Lockwood (2009-2011), Ben Reynolds (2016 - on loan from Leigh) and Brad Singleton (2012 - on dual reg from Leeds).