Newcastle snap up former NRL star

Drew Darbyshire

Newcastle have secured the services of former NRL forward Joel Edwards for the rest of the 2019 season.

The 30-year-old back-rower brings a wealth of experience to Thunder, having played 107 NRL games for Canberra Raiders, Newcastle Knights and Wests Tigers.

Edwards was enjoyed a spell with York last season, helping the Knights earn promotion to the Championship.

Thunder head coach Simon Finnigan commented: “We’ve done our homework on him, he had a good stint at York and they speak very highly of him.

“I’m pretty happy with our squad but Joel will be a good addition to our middle unit.

“He’ll come in and add more competition for places and will have to fight for his spot like the rest of them.

“He is a good professional, and has NRL experience so we’d expect him to come in and keep them standards.

“He is a very good defender and consistent in a lot of actions, which is something that our middles are good at as well, so he is joining pretty good company.”

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