Hunslet: Rookie recruitment initiative proving successful for Parksiders

Hunslet signed forward Brett Whitehead, who began his career at Wigan and had been playing rugby union for Fylde, following the trial game last autumn.

He was outstanding as a substitute in the 21-14 pre-season defeat by Leeds Rhinos two days ago, and Coyle said: “To get someone like him from the trial game, I think we’ve done really well.”

Ben Blakeston, another substitute against Leeds, was also picked up after being spotted in the Hunslet Rookie match, along with wingers Marcus Webb, who scored the hosts’ first try in the derby, and Omar Alrawi.

Coyle said: “Ben came on at no9 and I was impressed with him. He’s only 17 so it was a good effort; he has got great potential.”

Coyle believes Hunslet’s performance against Rhinos was an indication of what they can do this year.

Hunslet were beaten 52-6 at Featherstone Rovers in their opening warm-up game, and Coyle said: “We played some better rugby than the week before.

“We got the opportunity to do that, that was the difference, but we earned that right.

“Our kicking game was better.

“I don’t think our short kicking game was very good, but our long kicking game was decent.”