England forward hits back at ‘journeyman’ jibe after making huge Super League transfer

Wednesday saw a big day of Super League transfers with St Helens signing Daryl Clark from Warrington Wolves, Castleford Tigers swooping for Lebanese World Cup star Charbel Tasipale and Wigan Warriors completing a money plus player deal for Tyler Dupree, with former Leeds Rhinos prop Brad Singleton going the other way.

It’s all go for many clubs at the moment on the recruitment side of things, with the August 4^th deadline fast approaching and many teams in Super League still having big gaps in their squads ahead of the end of this season and the start of the next one.

Having seen many big transfers so far, and with more still to come, it remains to be seen which club have done the best business for the 2024 campaign, what we do know is that on paper it will be hard to beat Wigan’s capture of England international Dupree.

The 23-year-old prop forward has been one of Super League’s best players for the past two seasons, form that earned him a call-up to Shaun Wane’s England squad earlier this season and resulted in Wigan getting out the chequebook to secure his signature.

Dupree started his career at Leeds Rhinos, coming through the ranks in 2018 but failing to make a first-team appearance. During his time at Headingley he would go on loan to Featherstone Rovers, York Knights and Batley Bulldogs, making a combined total of nine appearances for those club’s in the second tier.

He left Leeds to sign a permanent deal with Oldham in 2021, and after impressing he was picked up by Widnes and the Salford later in 2022 as his potential became evident and his standout performances in the tiers below the top flight showed he was a Super League player.

After 35 appearances for the Red Devils and one England appearance, Dupree is now a Wigan player, with the Warriors officially his eighth club, though the Halifax-born prop was quick to put right a suggestion from a fan of Twitter that he was a journeyman.

Mad how this is my “8th club” but didn’t play for one of em and was on loan to 3😂 but yeah bit of a journey man apparently pic.twitter.com/8a43Gxa9i3

— TD (@tylerdupree8) July 26, 2023

“Mad how this is my “8th club” but didn’t play for one of em and was on loan to 3, but yeah bit of a journey man apparently,” Dupree responded to the jibe.

He is definitely in his rights to correct the statement, with the stats showing Dupree has only made more than 10 appearances for two clubs, Oldham and Salford, with the other five clubs he’s played for previously only bringing up 16 appearances.

Despite this, Dupree will be keen to settle at the DW Stadium and Wigan will be keen to get the best out of the potential future England star having paid money to secure his services, with a four-year deal suggesting they see him as a big part of the club’s immediate future.