T'Other Side: Sheffield Eagles

T’Other Side: Sheffield Eagles

2019 Matches

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: Mark Aston

Amazingly, this is Mark Aston’s 19th 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 then 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 led Eagles to that amazing win over Wigan at Wembley. He also played five times for Great Britain. Mark Aston was the head coach of the Ireland international team from 2011 to 2018.

Captain: Matt James

Matt James is now in his third year as the Sheffield Eagles captain. 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 included spells with Barrow Raiders, Halifax and Harlequins RL before joining Featherstone in 2013. After 3 years at Rovers he moved to Sheffield.

New signings for 2019

Like several other clubs, Sheffield have had a huge turnover in playing personnel for 2019 with 14 new players joining their squad. Of the Sheffield team that turned out against us last September only 6 are still at the club.

Four players have joined Sheffield from Batley.

Fiery and much-travelled centre, Jason Crookes, started out at Bradford Bulls but he made his first grade début on loan for Widnes in 2008. In 2011 he played for the first time with Sheffield, on loan from Bradford. In 2013 he joined Hull FC and also played for York on dual reg. and in his 2nd year at Hull played one game on dual reg. for Doncaster. In 2014 he played for Fev on loan making 15 appearances and scoring 14 tries. In 2015 he joined Dewsbury and then went on loan to Batley in 2017 and stayed there for last year. During the 2016 season he was sin-binned 5 times.

James Davey, a hooker, has returned for his second spell with Sheffield having played for them from 2013 to 2015 as well as on dual reg in 2012. He began with Wakefield in 2009. In 2012 he also played on dual for Keighley. He joined Batley in 2016.

Joel Farrell, a Jamaican international second rower, began with Dewsbury in 2014 and moved to Batley in 2017. In 2014 he played on loan for Gateshead Thunder.

Sheffield’s main goal-kicker this year is Pat Walker, the 4th player to have joined them from Batley. He is also in his second spell at Sheffield having played for them from 2013 to 2015. He is a stand-off who also plays loose forward. His movements from club to club will be starting to sound familiar as he also has played for both Batley and Dewsbury. He started with Dewsbury in 2007 and remained there until 2012. He joined Batley in 2016

They have signed three players from Dewsbury Rams: Aaron Brown, James Glover and Josh Guzdek.

Aaron Brown signed for Dewsbury in 2013 from the Leeds Rhinos Academy and stayed with the Rams until moving to Sheffield this year. He plays mainly at loose forward although he can also play at stand-off.

James Glover, centre, had also only previously played first grade at Dewsbury where he started in 2015.

Talented fullback, Josh Guzdek, started at Hull Kingston Rovers in 2013, and played on loan and dual reg with Coventry, Keighley and Newcastle before joining Dewsbury in 2016.

Another club from whom Sheffield have signed three new players are Hemel Stags.

Sonny Esslemont, a forward who usually starts on the bench, started out with two years (2014 and 2015) at Hull Kingston Rovers. Both years he played for Gateshead/Newcastle Thunder on dual registration. Since then he has played for Keighley as well as Hemel. In 2015 he played for Scotland in their three European Championship games.

Louis Sheriff also started at Hull KR (2011 and 2012) and then had a year in Australia with Redcliffe Dolphins. On his return he joined Dewsbury and then Gateshead before spending 2 years at Doncaster, moving to Hemel last season.

Lewis Taylor, a prop forward, played 18 games for Hemel last year.

Sheffield have signed Brad Knowles after he had had four seasons at Fev. At Fev he usually played in the second row but he is now playing at prop for Sheffield.

Experienced halfback, Anthony Thackeray, was also signed from Rovers. His career began with Hull FC in 2007. During that year he had loan spells with York and Castleford, joining Castleford in 2008 and while at Cas he played 6 matches at loan for Fev. in 2009 he moved to Widnes and in 2011 he went again on loan to York. He then spent two year each at Halifax and Dewsbury before signing for Fev in 2016. He is currently Sheffield’s leading try scorer with 6 tries in four matches.

The last new signing is hooker, Ben Pointer. He has joined from Newcastle Thunder. From 2015 to 2017 he was at London Broncos and also played for London Skolars on dual registration.

Dual Registration and Loans

Sheffield Eagles do not have a dual registration agreement and nor do they currently have any players on loan.

The Fev Connection

Two current Fev players have played for Sheffield. John Davies was there in 2015 when he had some hair(!) and Scott Wheeldon was a Sheffield player in 2016 and 2017.

In the 2019 Sheffield squad are 6 players who have played for Fev. Already mentioned above are Ben Blackmore, Jason Crookes, Matt James, Brad Knowles and Anthony Thackeray. The other is Shaun Pick who was at Rovers in 2014.