Tom Holmes joins Huddersfield
Huddersfield have won the race to sign Championship star Tom Holmes on a three-year deal.
The 22-year-old started his professional career with Castleford Tigers before joining Featherstone Rovers ahead of this season, where he scored six tries in 18 games.
Holmes was a shining light in the Championship until he suffered a knee injury at the Summer Bash. He is set to return to action in April.
On making the move back to Super League, Holmes said: “I can’t thank the club enough for standing by me and offering me the contract even with my injury.
“It’s a dream come true to be back in Super League and I just want to give a massive thank you to Huddersfield for giving me this chance. I just want to do my best for the club and for the fans and prove everyone wrong.
“I really enjoyed playing in the Championship this season, it’s been a massive help for me on the field. I feel a lot more confident having been able to play week in week out rugby and now I’m ready for that step up where hopefully I can now play regularly in Super League.
“The rugby the Giants are playing is really exciting, it’s a brand that I think will suit me as a player. I’ve seen some of the games recently and they’re playing so well, Simon Woolford has brought a lot to the club and I’m looking forward to working under him and hopefully we can go one step further next season.”
Giants coach Simon Woolford is delighted to secure the signature of Holmes, who was attracting interest from several clubs in the top-flight.
He said: “Everyone at Featherstone and Castleford had a very high opinion of him and we’re very excited to have him on board.
“He’s certainly going to make our squad a lot stronger as far as our halves are concerned so we feel really lucky we’ve been able to sign him and I’m looking forward to working with him.
“He’s well into his rehab now, he’s over a month post-op, so you’d like to think by the new year he’ll be on the way back. We’ve been monitoring it already and he’s been coming along nicely so we’ll have to take it as it comes.
“We’ve currently got Danny Brough and Lee Gaskell in the halves at the moment and Oliver Russell coming through, so Tom will add some depth to the position. He’s a tough kid with a lot of good attributes as far as a half is concerned and he’ll fit into our squad nicely. We just need to get through this year and then we’ll look forward to him coming in November.”