On the back of the U19s recent success, the Red Devils are delighted to announce that four members of the academy side have been signed to the first team squad for 2016.
Jake Bibby, Josh Wood, Matthew Wilkinson and Liam Bent will join U19s Captain Ryan Lannon in promotion to the first team.
Under Martin Gleeson and Gareth Carvell’s leadership, the U19s had an incredible end to their season, losing just one match in ten league games, plus claiming victory in a friendly game against Catalans Dragons U19s back in July, to secure top spot in the Group 2 table. The academy side saw off good competition from other Super League and Championships to finish the season with an 8 point lead over nearest rivals Huddersfield Giants U19s at the top of the table. The U19s side also racked up a fantastic 183 points difference.
Josh Wood joined the Red Devils at the beginning of this year and despite his early season being halted by injury the 19-year-old has impressed this season. After returning to the U19s side for their victory against Leeds Rhinos back in May, scrum-half Josh was called up to the first team just a week later to make his Super League debut against Warrington Wolves. He played well in the halves for the Red Devils and has taken this experience to help him improve in the academy competition.
Jake Bibby recently started training with the first team, after his impressive displays for the U19s was noticed by Head Coach Martin Gleeson. Bibby has progressed well in the full time environment and has twice been named in the 19 Man Squad in the past few weeks.
19-year-old hooker, Matty Wilkinson, has been a prolific try scorer this season and has impressed staff and his team mates on the field, scooping the U19s Player of the Year award and the Player’s Player of the year award at the academy awards evening a few weeks ago. He has performed consistently at a high standard for the U19s and is highly regarded by staff and fellow players.
Another trophy winning recruit is Liam Bent, who won the Best Forward award for the U19s. At just 17 years old, Liam is one of the youngest players in the academy side but has held his own as a prop forward, a position that requires a lot of physicality against older and bigger competition at times. Both Matty and Liam will join the first team side in a full time environment for the first time for 2016.
All four of the new first team recruits will join U19s Captain Ryan Lannon in the full time environment. Lannon began training with the first team squad earlier this year and was soon drafted in to games, making four Super League appearances against Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers, Hull FC and Wakefield Wildcats. At just 19, he has balanced first team training and duties, alongside being a great leader of the U19s team, taking skills and experience with the first team to improve in the academy competition. He has impressed the coaching staff and the fans with his performances this season.
There are also discussions to recruit further stars of the U19s squad in the next few months, they’ll be invited to pre-season training with the first team and be part of the clubs future plans which may include the club’s participation in the reserve grade league.
Red Devils Owner Marwan Koukash said, ‘Building upon the club’s youth structure is essential moving forward and I’m delighted that we have signed such promising talent for the future. Under the current coaching engine, I am now confident that these graduates from the academy will be fully developed in a professional environment and hopefully will become first team stars for the Red Devils in future years.’
