Giants sign Holmes

Huddersfield Giants have signed former Castleford and Featherstone halfback Tom Holmes.

The 22-year-old has signed a three-year contract after being released by Rovers last week, where he made 18 appearances this season before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Halifax at the Summer Bash.

Serious About RL reported on Wednesday that the Giants were the front-runners for his signature and have now beaten off competition from the likes of Wakefield and Hull KR.

Holmes told the Huddersfield Giants’ website: “I’m absolutely over the moon. 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.

“Having Danny Brough in the squad will be massive for me, I’m sure that will help bring me on leaps and bounds. There’s Lee Gaskell and Danny Brough here who are probably the best halves in the league at the minute and I’m looking forward to playing with and learning off them. There are also some big men in the middle, then Leroy Cudjoe and Jermaine McGillvary out wide which I think will be a massive help for me, hopefully we can get some good combinations together.

“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.

“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 the Super League.

“With the injury, I’m five weeks in now, I’m getting a lot more movement back and I’m feeling really good so far. It feels like I’m a bit ahead of schedule, I just can’t wait to get back on the field and hopefully do as much as I can over pre-season.”

Giants Head Coach Simon Woolford also commented: “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.”