York bring in Jacob Gannon on loan from Warrington

Drew Darbyshire
LNER Community Stadiu

A general view of the LNER Community Stadium, York

York have signed young forward Jacob Gannon from Warrington on a week-to-week loan. 

The back-rower, who is the son of ex-Halifax forward Jim and the brother of Leeds youngster Morgan, has come through the system at Warrington but has yet to make his first team debut.

Last summer he was included in the England Academy performance squad which was due to tour Australia and New Zealand before it was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gannon is in line to make his York debut in this weekend’s Championship clash with Featherstone.

York coach James Ford said: “Jacob is a young middle with good ball skills and a very good approach to developing his game.

“I enjoyed working with him previously and I’m looking forwards to coaching him again.”

Gannon said: “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to play at York and to gain valuable experience playing in the Championship.”

Meanwhile, former York winger Ben Cockayne has come out of retirement to sign for League 1 side Doncaster.

The 38-year-old, who can play wing or full-back, initially announced his retirement midway through the 2019 campaign but laced up the boots again on Sunday for Doncaster as they went down to a 44-8 defeat to Rochdale.

Cockayne played for Doncaster in 2005 before going on to play for Hull KR, Featherstone, Wakefield and York. He scored 71 tries in 214 appearances for Hull KR across two stints.

On his move to Doncaster, Cockayne said: “It feels strange but I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve played so I was really interested when I got the call.

“I spoke to Sam Smeaton initially and then had a chat with Richard (Horne, coach) and Carl (Hall, chief executive) which intrigued me even more.

“It’s interesting that it’s all come back to where it’s started, I’m excited and a little bit nervous for no other reason than the fact I haven’t played for a while.”

Championship Jacob Gannon

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