Halifax Panthers have announced that Ryan Lannon has signed a new one year deal with the club, keeping him at The Shay until the end of the 2024 Betfred Championship season.
The 27 year old forward recently joined the club from Super League side Salford Red Devils on a contract until the end of the season, having previously spent time with Fax on loan back in 2017.
Lannon has quickly settled into Simon Grix’s side, putting in some solid performances. And now the Wigan native has wasted no time in committing his immediate future to the Panthers.
“I’m over the moon to get the deal done”, said Lannon. “Obviously, it’s happened quite quickly but it just shows how much I’m enjoying my rugby again and I enjoy coming to training all the time now so it’s good to get it sorted and kick on for next year now.”
“To be honest, I didn’t even look anywhere else. I’ve just been focusing on getting back to enjoying my rugby again and getting my form back. And then when Halifax offered me a contract again, I just didn’t think twice and re-signed for next year. it’s always in the back of your mind what you’re going to do for next year and obviously, I’ve done it quite early now so I can relax, keep enjoying my rugby and keep getting better week on week.”
“I’d like to think I’ve been going alright since I’ve come back. Obviously, I’ve didn’t do any pre season so the matches have been my fitness and the more matches I play, the fitter I get. Hopefully that continues and the fans will keep seeing a little bit more.”
“I’ve loved every minute of it so far. All the games I’ve played in have been big crowds and great atmospheres so far. They’ve been quite good turn outs like the Bulls and Saints games were unreal so hopefully it just keeps kicking on. The way we’ve been going on the field, we’ve just been getting better and better each weeks now since I’ve been here so the higher we can get up the table, who knows what can happen when we get to the play offs.”
And Panthers head coach Simon Grix was pleased to get his man. “We’re happy to have Ryan with us. We got the opportunity to get him in and I suppose that was a little bit of a ‘try before you buy’ thing. I think we needed a few training sessions where he showed a bit of maturity. Obviously, last time we had him we all remembered him as a decent character and that but he’s grown up a bit since then and his rugby IQ has improved a bit as well to be fair.”
“And then obviously, after a couple of performances you see he’s got something you don’t see at Championship level. He tends to be on his feet a lot and is very awkward for the opposition to handle so it just made perfect sense for us to sign him. I think he’s happy with how we do business and I’m certainly happy with what he brings so it made sense really.”
“He’s freakishly strong and very awkward to put down. He’s not necessarily the run in and knock four blokes on their backside kind of guy but he’s taking four to tackle him and they don’t always get him down which then leaves a couple of bodies out of their defensive line, which is good for us to play off the back of. He’s quite a big bloke as well, there’s loads of different bits that he’s brought to us since joining but I think we’re just scratching the surface. I think he’ll continue to get better as the season goes along. We’re happy to have him here with us.”
