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Super League full-back makes loan move to Featherstone Rovers

Super League full-back Luke Hooley has signed a short-term loan deal with Featherstone Rovers with the Castleford Tigers back making the five-mile trip from Cas to Fev.

Both Featherstone Rovers and Castleford Tigers confirmed the deal earlier today with Hooley now available to play in the Flat Cappers game this weekend against another West Yorkshire rival Halifax Panthers.

Featherstone Rovers took to X to confirm the move, posting: “The talented fullback joins the Blue Wall on a two-week loan deal from Castleford Tigers.

“Hooley will go straight into contention for Sunday’s game against Halifax at the Millennium Stadium.”

It marks yet another twist in the career of the 25-year-old who has struggled for consistent minutes since his move to Super League ahead of the 2023 season.

Who is Featherstone Rovers’ new recruit Luke Hooley?

Luke Hooley has moved to Featherstone Rovers on loan

Credit: SWpix

Hooley actually began his career with Bradford Bulls and did actually play a pre-season game for the side against his current club Castleford Tigers, however, when the Bulls went into administration he headed to Wakefield Trinity.

During his three-year stay at Belle Vue, Hooley didn’t play a game for the club with loan deals making up all of his time there before he found a home at Batley Bulldogs where he broke into the spotlight.

The 2022 season was the most impressive of those with Hooley putting together a very impressive campaign that saw him register 21 tries in his 32 appearances as Batley shocked the Championship to make it to the Million Pound Game.

Unfortunately for Batley, they came up against a Leigh Centurions’ side that had walked the league and will likely go down as one of the most dominant teams to ever grace the Championship. Batley lost that Championship Grand Final 44-18.

His performances for the Bulldogs were enough for Leeds Rhinos to come calling but Hooley never found his stride at Headingley, playing just eight games for the club in 2023. The majority of his season was spent back at Batley though, with the gap between Hooley’s debut and his second appearance in Amber and Blue being a whopping 128 days.

That was in part due to a nightmare debut that saw Jordan Abdull make a mockery of the Leeds’ backline with both Hooley and Derrell Olpherts leaving Craven Park having nightmares about those high swirling bombs.

Injury issues plague 2024 after Super League switch

Credit: Imago Images

Hooley then moved to Castleford Tigers who would then go on to hire his former Batley coach as head coach, Craig Lingard. Despite that connection, Hooley didn’t take the number one shirt by storm and was actually dropped to the bench before injury arose.

In the Challenge Cup win over his former club, Hooley had to leave the field and he’s yet to play since, with his potential Featherstone Rovers debut on Sunday set to be his first match in six weeks.

The arrival of Tex Hoy at The Jungle and the manner of Hoy’s impressive debut means that Hooley is now surplus to requirements and also lacking match fitness.

It’s a loan move that makes plenty of sense for both clubs with Hooley able to get back to match speed whilst Castleford can embed Hoy into the team, before potentially recalling Hooley and switching the talented Australian Hoy into the halves.

The move comes at a good time for Featherstone too as they have seen their full-back Caleb Aekins return home to New Zealand after a family bereavement, meaning Hooley will deputise in his absence.

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