Featherstone prop Dan Fleming makes Championship switch

Wales international and prop forward Dan Fleming has made the Championship switch to Halifax from Featherstone on a deal until the end of the 2023 campaign.

The 30-year-old returns to the Shay, having represented the side from 2018 to 2020.

Fleming rejoins his hometown club after spells with Castleford, Bradford and Featherstone, and will link up with Simon Grix’s squad with immediate effect.

He also represented Wales at last year’s delayed World Cup, having first made his international debut in 2012.

“It’s brilliant to be back,” said Fleming.

“I’m a Halifax lad, my kids support Halifax, I get a bit of stick wherever I go about it but hopefully, I won’t be going anywhere else now.

“I’m really happy to get this done. I think Simon’s fed up of me texting him but I’m just chuffed to bits to be back and I can’t wait to get started.

“Obviously, I was travelling over to Featherstone and I wasn’t getting the game time I wanted.

“I’m coming towards the end of my career, I’m not as old as Bob (Fairbank) yet, but I’m hoping to have a few more years left and I want to finish down here.

“I like to think I still base my game on hard work and turning up for my team-mates and knowing that they can rely on me. I’m going to try and give everything I can for the shirt when I get the opportunity.”

Halifax boss in Dan Fleming addition

Panthers boss Simon Grix added: “Dan’s obviously been up against it at Fev and not been happy there for a while and he gets the opportunity to get out and get to an environment he knows quite well.

“He’s obviously someone we know quite well but he’s really proud to wear our shirt which goes a long way. He’s a good player, he’s got some qualities that we miss in our group so I’m looking forward to getting him in.

“A couple of blokes left in pre-season and then Ryan King followed that and the idea way back then was that we’d replace them.

“For a number of reasons, we haven’t been able to and we’ve got some needs in our squad.

“Performances have highlighted some of those needs and that’s what we’ve tried to fix with some of the recent signings.

“We’re still not a closed book on recruitment, we’re still looking in one or two areas that we probably need to improve but at the same time between money and player availability, we just need to be patient and keep going with it.”

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