After Featherstone Rovers were denied entry to the 2026 Championship, one of their forwards has made the switch to sign with a rival club.
Rovers filed for administration in December but just one interested party sought to invest in the club with the RFL ruling that bid to be too similar to the previous regime at Featherstone, ultimately leading the governing body to deny the club RFL membership, thus seeing them drop out of the Championship.
That saw the Championship shift from 21 teams to 20 with the RFL confirming on Monday evening the replacement games for all of Rovers’ 12 opponents, with one of them being Halifax Panthers.
The Panthers had been supposed to play Featherstone in early April and late July, however, they’ve now had Swinton Lions confirmed as their twelfth opponent this year.
Fax have also confirmed a new recruit from Featherstone with veteran forward Brad Day arriving at the club to add to Kyle Eastmond’s pack.
Featherstone Rovers man joins Halifax
The 31-year-old becomes Halifax’s ninth signing of 2026 and adds plenty of experience with 224 Championship appearances to his name, with 21 of those coming in 2025 whilst at Featherstone Rovers.
Day played just shy of 100 games for the Flat Cappers over two stints but started his career out with Castleford Tigers, debuting for them back in 2014.
He now joins his fifth club with Fax confirming him to a one-year deal in a club statement that confirmed Day will connect with his new teammates ahead of the club’s second round Challenge Cup tie this Sunday against London Chargers.
The veteran will don the number 24 shirt and joins a pack that has seen ex-Super League man Ben Crooks recently added with the Fax skipper moving from the outside backs to the second-row for the 2026 season.
Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here.
✍️ DAY PENS ONE YEAR PANTHERS DEAL 🔵⚪️🐾
Halifax Panthers are delighted to announce the signing of Brad Day on a one year contract from Featherstone Rovers. Day joins the Panthers on a deal that will keep him at The Shay until the end of the 2026 Betfred Championship season… pic.twitter.com/vKwICzL4Wd
— Halifax Panthers 🐾 (@HalifaxPanthers) January 20, 2026