For young players in any form of rugby league, sometimes a move to a new club early on in their careers is the way to go – and for Jason Crookes, that was the case, with the 22-year old winger moving from Bradford, to ink a 3-year deal with Hull FC.
In what was a difficult season for the Bradford Bulls as a whole, Crookes scored 7 tries in 13 appearances for the club, and is excited at the move to Hull.
“I think every player knows what a massive club Hull is. Coming through the ranks as a kid, I watched the likes of Gareth Raynor and Matt Sing play for Hull, and they were two of my favourite players,” Crookes said.
“For the last three years at Bradford, we’ve not made the play-offs and that’s been disappointing ,but Hull have done well this year considering the injuries they’ve had, and I think we can really push on next year.
“It’s a really good club, it’s run very professionally and Peter Gentle is a coach I’m looking forward to working with. I just can’t wait to get started now.â€
Hull FC coach Peter Gentle, said that the reason to sign Crookes, came about due to the need to have speed and stability in their back-line, and Crookes is capable of providing both of those.
“With the way we want the team to play, we identified we were going to need speed in our side, particularly the outside backs and Jason certainly brings that.
“He is a player we first noticed in pre-season when he ran down Tom Briscoe and we’ve followed him since then. He works very hard at both ends of the field, he is quick, strong and very versatile, as he can play at wing or centre and down either side.”