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.
Hooley is now eligible to play in this weekend’s Flat Cappers match against Halifax Panthers, another West Yorkshire opponent, after the agreements were confirmed earlier today by both Featherstone Rovers and Castleford Tigers.
Featherstone Rovers announced on X that the gifted fullback would be joining the Blue Wall for a two-week loan from Castleford Tigers.Hooley will be eligible to play in Sunday’s Millennium Stadium match against Halifax.
The 25-year-old, who has battled to get regular minutes since moving to the Super League before of the 2023 season, has yet another twist in his career.
Who is Featherstone Rovers’ new recruit Luke Hooley?
Hooley actually started his career with the Bradford Bulls and participated in a preseason game against the Castleford Tigers, the team he currently plays for. However, once the Bulls went bankrupt, Hooley moved to Wakefield Trinity.
Before finding a home at Batley Bulldogs, where he emerged into the spotlight, Hooley spent three years at Belle Vue without playing a game for the team due to loan deals.
Of those seasons, 2022 was the most remarkable due to Hooley’s outstanding play, which included 21 tries in 32 games as Batley upset the Championship to advance to the Million Pound Game.
Sadly for Batley, they faced a Leigh Centurions team that was unstoppable throughout the season and will probably go down as one of the most dominant squads to have ever played in the Championship. That Championship Grand Final was lost by Batley, 44–18.
Leeds Rhinos were interested in Hooley because of his Bulldogs performances, but he was never able to settle well at Headingley, appearing in just eight games for the team in 2023. But Hooley spent most of his season back at Batley; in fact, he spent a staggering 128 days between his debut and his second appearance in Amber and Blue.
That was partly because of Jordan Abdull’s disastrous debut, in which he embarrassed the Leeds defence by playing alongside both Hooley and Derrell Olpherts leaving Craven Park having nightmares about those high swirling bombs.
Injury issues plague 2024 after Super League switch
After that, Hooley relocated to the Castleford Tigers, who later hired Craig Lingard, his previous coach at Batley, as head coach. Despite that relationship, Hooley was benched before an injury occurred and didn’t take the top spot by storm.
Hooley was forced off the field during the Challenge Cup victory over his old team, and he hasn’t returned to the field since. This Sunday’s game against Featherstone Rovers might be his first in six weeks.
Given Tex Hoy’s arrival at The Jungle and the way in which he made his outstanding debut, Hooley is no longer needed and is not match fit.
Both teams will benefit greatly from the loan arrangement, as Hooley can quickly return to game pace and Castleford can integrate Hoy into the lineup before maybe bringing him back and starting the gifted Australian Hoy in the second half.
The timing of the deal is also advantageous for Featherstone, as Hooley will fill in for full-back Caleb Aekins, who is returning home to New Zealand following a family bereavement.
Leave a Reply