OWEN HARRISON JOINS ON LOAN AT NEWCASTLE THUNDER

Newcastle Thunder have agreed a deal with Betfred Super League side Hull KR to bring talented young forward Owen Harrison to Kingston Park Stadium on a season-long loan.

A product of the City of Hull Academy system where he captained the U19s side in 2018, Harrison is a back-rower by trade but can also feature at prop, the position in which he made most of his appearances for his parent club to date.

Beginning his senior career on loan at Dewsbury Rams in 2019, Harrison impressed and was recalled to Craven Park after just five games in the Betfred Championship, making his Super League debut in the derby away to Hull FC.

Making a total of ten appearances for the Robins across Super League and the Challenge Cup that year, Harrison followed up that breakthrough season with four appearances during the 2020 campaign with a pair of matches at each end of the covid impacted calendar.

A strong player who runs good lines and is skilful with the ball in hand, Harrison is eager to get back to playing having been afforded limited opportunities with KR so far this year.

Speaking on his move, Harrison said: “I’m really looking forward to getting going with Thunder. It’s almost a year since I last played so I can’t wait to rip in and enjoy playing rugby again.

“It’s been a tough year with covid and I’ve had a bit of injury so I’ve had about six weeks off prior to coming to Thunder, so to start with I’m looking to build up my match fitness and then working on developing how I play the game.

“I want to crack Super League and playing well for Thunder is a stage towards getting there.  It’s all well and good training full time but nothing like playing a game and I need to be back playing rugby.”

Director of rugby Denis Betts said: “Owen is someone who is going to be a great asset to us for the rest of the season. Has great Super League experience and is young but also has a bit of edge to him where he wants to try and get better.

“He has been in full time training at Hull KR so has that mentality and toughness about him, he is going to give us some extra punch and put us onto the front foot.  He is a big man with presence but is also a high-quality footballer with great hands.”