Featherstone Rovers retain key forward as Toulouse Olympique hand two-year contract to international stalwart
Featherstone Rovers' Brad Day (left) & Toulouse Olympique's Anthony Marion (right) have both signed contract extensions - Alamy
Championship clubs Featherstone Rovers and Toulouse Olympique have both announced key player retentions for 2024 in the shape of Brad Day & Anthony Marion respectively.
Experienced forward Day has penned a one-year contract extension at Post Office Road, one of the few to stick around following their failed promotion push this term.
After a play-off defeat on home soil to London Broncos, the 29-year-old saw no less than 17 of his colleagues depart the club, with the re-building process still very much ongoing in the wake of that mass exodus.
Nonetheless, the back-rower has signed up for 2024, and told their club website how excited he is to have done so, saying: “I’m happy to have signed for another year.
“As many of the other boys are, I’m still disappointed with how last year ended. We know next year is going to be a different challenge, but it’s something that I’m looking forward to, playing in front of the blue wall once again.”
Rovers head coach James Ford meanwhile added: “We’re delighted to retain Brad. He’s powerful in contact, runs strong lines and works incredibly hard on the field.
“He had some solid games for us at the back end of the season. We’ll work hard with him to ensure we get an even better version for 2024.”
Towering ace Day first joined Featherstone in 2019 with his only stint away since then a brief one with Newcastle Thunder as they turned professional in the 2022 season. Before his time at Featherstone, the powerhouse played for both Super League outfit Castleford Tigers & Championship side Batley Bulldogs.
Toulouse Olympique hand two-year contract to international stalwart Anthony Marion
If Day is considered a bit of a stalwart in West Yorkshire, then five-time France international Marion definitely is at Toulouse, the only club he’s ever played for at senior level.
Having penned a two-year extension until the end of the 2025 season, the utility will head into an 11th season contracted to Olympique next term.
Coming through the youth system at Racing Club Albi, 29-year-old Marion joined Toulouse’s ‘Centre du Formation’ in the summer of 2014, officially signing his first contract in 2015 shortly after they’d opted to transition into the British game.
The only other outfit he’s donned a shirt for since is Toulouse’s ‘reserve’ side, the Toulouse Olympique Broncos in the French Elite Championship while waiting for the start of the 2016 League 1 campaign.
With 177 Olympique appearances to his name in British competitions, the Albi-born ace will fancy his chances of making it beyond the 200-mark next year having featured in every one of their 29 fixtures this season.
Marion told Toulouse’s website that a conversation with new club president Olivier Dubois helped to convince him to stick around, saying: “I am very happy to have extended for the next two seasons with the club.
“I talked for a long time with Olivier and his project for the club is really exciting. This is a new chapter in the history of the club and I am very excited to be part of it.”
Head coach Sylvain Houles hailed his long-time servant as he added: “Probably the player of the year 2023, Antho really led the group both on and off the field.
“He is a complete player with good game intelligence, good vision, a big worker and one of the executives of this team now. It is quite normal that we continue the adventure with him.”