
Former Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR man Thomas Minns looks ‘back to his best’ as the 2025 season approaches. That’s according to Goole Vikings head coach Scott Taylor, who has picked Minns in his 21-man squad to take on Featherstone Rovers on Tuesday night at the Millennium Stadium.
Minns was one of the first men to be announced by the Vikings as they prepare for the start of their first ever season in League One, with the 30-year-old returning to the professional ranks after a couple years away. Following stints with Featherstone, Newcastle Thunder and Wakefield Trinity, Minns has spent the last two years focusing his efforts on becoming a full-time firefighter.
He hasn’t missed a beat since agreeing to join the Vikings cause, though, and Taylor has named him as one of the standouts of pre-season so far ahead of Tuesday’s rearranged game. The head coach has also highlighted the efforts of local lads Tom Halliday, who joined from Doncaster, and Ben Hodder, who stepped up from the club’s amateur ranks to take on a role within the professional side.
“Everyone has had a right dig,” Taylor told Serious About RL. “Tom Halliday has been outstanding, he’s a Goole lad, and we had one lad step up from the amateur called Ben Hodder. He’s a 19-year-old centre/wing and he’s stepped up to the plate.
“If you watched us train and watched everything we do and said ‘pick out the man who was playing amateur last year for Goole in Yorkshire Four’, you couldn’t and that’s how much he’s stepped up to the plate. I’m really impressed with what Ben Hodder has done so far and how he’s come on.
“The other one I’ll chuck out there who I’m really happy with, obviously we know he’s a firefighter, but Thomas Minns looks back to his best, for me. He’s looking fit, agile, quick and looking like he’s going to be a big, big asset for me this year.”
Of course, a chunk of Goole’s squad has been made up of youngsters who have recently been attached to academies in Super League. The likes of Mackenzie Harman, Lennon Bursell, Callum Rutland (all Hull FC) and Joe Phillips (Leeds Rhinos) have left academies recently and they will all have something of a point to prove.
“There’s some chips on our shoulder and we need to get the benefit off the back of that and there’s lads in there who are biting at the bit to get playing, they’re listening and they’re learning,” the head coach added. “I’ve no doubt that a bulk of my squad are going to go onto bigger and better things after a year or two at Goole.
“A couple of them boys are young and have been released recently from Super League clubs. If I aren’t driving a few of them to higher league clubs in the next few years I haven’t done my job properly.
“I’m pretty confident that that will be the case, the way these lads are training and dedicating themselves, it won’t be long before some are going onto bigger and better things and I’ve done my job then.”

Rushy64
January 13, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Thomas was just beginning to show some real form with Rovers before he had his issues. I fully expect him to be featuring for a SL side again in the not too distant future!