ENGLAND Academy prop Jake Anderson has signed for Hunslet until the end of the season.

Anderson, 19, joins the Parksiders on loan from Newcastle Thunder, with whom he has gained experience in Rugby League’s Betfred Championship, and he goes straight into the 21-man squad for Saturday’s home Betfred League 1 fixture with Rochdale Hornets.

     Hunslet’s head coach Alan Kilshaw said of the Gateshead Storm product: “Jake is another player we have added to give us some strength in depth going into the second half of the season. He has a good work rate, carries the ball strongly, and doesn’t take a backwards step in defence.

“We are happy with all the lads we have brought in, and with some players due to return from injury during the next month we can be comfortable with our strength in depth across all positions.”

Anderson joins other loan men Oli Burton, Cole Oakley, Jake Sweeting and Jacob Doyle in the squad for Saturday, together with new signing Patrick Walker. The rest of the party, which includes ten local players, is: Jimmy Watson, Wayne Reittie, Jack Render, Jacob Beer, Harvey Hallas, Harvey Whiteley, Josh Jordan-Roberts, Jordan Syme, Cam Berry, Ethan O’Hanlon, Matty Stableford, Jordan Paga, Kieran Moran, Macauley Hallett, Sion Jones and Patrick Walker.

Hunslet remain without captain Duane Straugheir, who is around three weeks away from recovering from a broken arm, centre Jason Mossop (groin tear, unspecified period), forward Joe Summers (pcl – again for an unspecified period) and halfback Fraser Stroud, who is serving a three-months suspension for abuse of a match official in a Student Rugby League game, while halfback Joe Sanderson is sidelined for some six weeks with a shoulder injury.

Kilshaw said: “It’s a new phase in our season; we have been busy recruiting players and it’s important they all hit the ground running.

“We will make a decision on if they all will play after our final training run. They haven’t been recruited for one game, it’s very much a squad effort that will see us challenging at the top end of the table, and that’s why we have been active in bringing some quality additions to supplement the squad that was already in place.”

He added: “We are excited about Saturday’s game. We thrive from playing at home, our practise has been good and we have had a good two weeks’ training.  We need to convert that into an 80-minute performance from everyone; there’s never a question over our effort or desire, it’s about applying the detail in the right areas. Our discipline has been good in the last few performances and we need to maintain that.”