Leroy Cudjoe commits to 18th year with Huddersfield in 2022

Correspondent

Former England centre Leroy Cudjoe has signed a new contract with Huddersfield for 2022 that will see him extend his stay with his hometown club to 18 years.

The 33-year-old Cudjoe, who has been with the Giants since the age of 16, has made a successful comeback after being sidelined for almost two full seasons with a succession of knee injuries and played his 300th match against Hull in July.

Cudjoe said: “I’m really pleased I’ve been able to agree another year at the club, this club means a lot to me and I’ve been here since I was 16 so I was very happy we could get a deal done.

“I’m really enjoying my rugby at the minute, I missed a lot of time when I was injured and it was tough not been able to do what I love but the time out has made me appreciate my rugby a lot more as you never know when your time could be up. Physically, I’m feeling great of the back of a full pre-season under Greg Brown and I’ve certainly benefited from that.

“This squads excites me as we’ve come together in recent weeks and really put in some good performances, there’s a good vibe around the place at the minute and a lot of young lads stepping up and making the most of their chance. I’m sure we will add a lot more quality and experience to the squad for next year along with the young lads, who will have another 12 months to develop. It’s an exciting time to be involved.”

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Huddersfield coach Ian Watson said: “His character epitomises the club in terms of his attitude to fight, to come back from a serious injury.

“There’s not many players that’ll come back from an injury as serious as that and come back as good as they left. He’s still at that level and he’s been improving as the games have gone on.

“It’s important you have the right senior players around the younger players and Leroy is the right kind of senior player to be around our young talent.

“We want to harness his enthusiasm and his connection with the local community and want to show to local players that Huddersfield-born players can achieve great things with this club.

“Leroy Cudjoe is the epitome of that. He’s essential to the work that we’re doing with our younger players.”