In their second season since reforming as New Hunslet, signings were been made by coach Paul Daley to improve the quality of the squad.
We’ve already seen the debut of Sam Windmill, and one week on it was the turn of Allan Agar and Drew Broatch at Doncaster in 1975.
Allan came to us from Dewsbury after previously serving Featherstone Rovers. A scrum half, he scored a try on his debut. He played 56 times for New Hunslet, scoring 23 tries and 12 goals. He joined us in the first season of 1 point drop goals and became something of specialist as a scorer of strategic 1 pointers, putting 11 over in the 3 seasons he was with us. Allan eventually moved on to Hull Kingston Rovers in November 1976, leaving us with a try in his last game.
Drew came to us from York, having previously played for Leeds and Bradford Northern. From Hawick and coming towards the end of his career (he’d signed for Leeds in 1963), he brought a wealth of experience to the threequarters. He turned out 102 times for us, scoring 7 tries. He later coached New Hunslet. He was previously a rep player with a Commonwealth XIII against the 1965 New Zealand tourists.
Of the three new signings, only Broatch got to experience New Hunslet’s first promotion but the other two played a massive part in getting the club to position where it could make that achievement.
Making his debut in 2003 was a second rower picked up from Sheffield Eagles. Wayne Freeman first turned out for us at Batley Bulldogs. He went on to play 169 games and score 31 tries. A very popular player with the supporters, he was arguably the stand out back rower during some turbulent years following the 1999 Grand Final. He played for National League 2 against the New Zealand Residents touring team in 2003.
Signing on the dotted line in 1962 was Keighley’s County winger Dave Smith. The transfer fee was £2,000 and Dave was with us three seasons, making 34 appearances and scoring 8 tries. Dave had played in Tour Trial while at Keighley.
