Oliver Roberts signs bumper deal at Huddersfield
Oliver Roberts has signed a new five-year contract at Huddersfield Giants.
The deal will keep him at the club until at least the end of the 2023 campaign.
Roberts attracted a lot of attention from NRL clubs due to his impressive performances with Ireland at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup but he has decided to commit his future to the Giants instead.
The 23-year-old said: “I’m really happy. When I came back from Australia I had a bit of interest from other clubs however I like it here, I enjoy the boys. I enjoy the staff, I love the club and I love where it’s going. I want to be here and be a part of that. I had no temptation to go anywhere else.
“It’s a good club. The boys are good, the staff’s good. I see this club going in the right ways. Rick Stone is going the right way and doing good stuff, I can see us winning trophies and that’s why I want to be here.
“Signing a new five-year deal doesn’t mean I’m sitting on the back burner; I’m not smoking no cigar. I want to be cracking on.
“I want to keep playing and I have a lot of goals which I want to achieve personally. This doesn’t mean that I’m secure now, I want to try and secure a new deal. Nothing is ever enough and you can’t be satisfied with what you’ve already got.”
And Huddersfield head coach Rick Stone is over the moon that the back-rower has decided to stay at the John Smith’s Stadium.
He said: “I think it’s a good thing for us and for Ollie. Good quality players are hard to find and when you’ve brought someone of that quality through from a young age then we’d obviously like to keep them.
“He’s still got a little bit to learn and he’ll be the first to admit that but he’s a prospect that can hopefully be a great player here for a long time.
“He brings a line-break ability, he carries the ball well, he’s hard to put down and can score a try. He’s a handful to the opposition but he’s still working on becoming an 80 minute back-rower and is becoming better every week.
“I’d like to think that we’ll continue to see that improvement in him for the next couple of years.”