Hemel make four more additions

Hemel Stags have made four more additions who will all compete for a place in the halves next year.

Liam Darville and Kieron Smith have both joined the League 1 side from Keighley Cougars while former Stags star Liam Coe has returned to the club. Jack Mitchell has also arrived from Gloucestershire All Golds.

The Stags lost on-loan duo Lewis Fairhurst and Jack Wray at the end of the 2017 campaign as well as Brett Whitehead who signed for North Wales Crusaders while Mark Barlow has moved into a new role of Player Welfare Officer.

Director of Rugby Dean Thomas was pleased to bring in the four new additions for the 2018 League 1 season.

He said: “Liam Darville played some games for Keighley’s first team at the back of last season, he’s a good decision maker, he has a good running game and is an ideal addition to our squad. Keiron was Keighley’s Reserves Player of the Year last season.

“Liam Coe joined us at the start of last season and did so well for us that Dewsbury (Rams) signed him from us. He was later released and went to play with West Bowling in the Conference to get his confidence back. He is raring to go after a good spell with them.

“Jake is a South Yorkshire-based player who came through the Sheffield Eagles Academy system. He’s a great talker with a lot of athletic ability, he just needs more game time.

“Hopefully, these guys can drive us forward over the next 12 months, I think we’ve added competition and quality to the Stags squad.”