Wakefield Trinity trio, Yusuf Aydin, Connor Bailey & Jack Croft have been included in the Yorkshire Origin squad for the first game of a three match series against Lancashire.
Both Croft and Aydin signed full-time deals with the first-team ahead of the 2019 season and have impressed for the Under 19’s team so far this year. Meanwhile, Connor Bailey has been a key figure in Mark Applegarth’s team in the loose-forward role.
The first game of the series will take place down at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle on Saturday 20th April (KO: 2pm).
For the second game, the Yorkshire vs Lancashire Origin game will be the curtain raiser for the Betfred Championship Summer Bash on Saturday 18th May (KO: 11am).
The series will conclude at Odsal Stadium in Bradford on Saturday 15th June (KO: 2pm).
Several Aussie-beaters, a handful of players with senior Betfred Super League experience, and a couple of familiar Rugby League names are included in the Lancashire and Yorkshire squads that have been announced today for the three-match Origin series that begins at Castleford on Easter Saturday.
Umyla Hanley, the son of Ellery who plays his Academy rugby for Wigan, is named for the first time in the Lancashire squad – and is joined by Jarrod O’Connor, the son of the former Wigan and Great Britain prop Terry, who recently joined Leeds Rhinos from Widnes Vikings.
They are joined by Jack Welsby of St Helens, who starred in England Academy’s 2-0 series win against the Australian Schoolboys in the winter – and has followed a number of other players from that squad into the Super League in recent weeks.
Welsby is one of eight Saints youngsters in the Lancashire squad, while his 2018 England team-mate Tom Holroyd is one of seven players from Leeds Rhinos in the Yorkshire squad.
Holroyd is joined by Conner Wynne, who made his Super League debut for Hull FC at Salford last weekend, and Morgan Smithies, the Halifax-born forward who was another member of the successful England Academy squad last year, and has made an immediate impact with Wigan in recent weeks.
Full squads below:
Lancashire: Billy Glover (Widnes), Connor Wrench (Warrington), Ethan Havard (Wigan), Harry Rushton (Wigan), Jack Welsby (St Helens), Jake Bradley (Whitehaven), Jake Wingfield (St Helens), Jamie Pye (St Helens), Jarrod O’Connor (Leeds), Joe Barnes (Warrington), Josh Simm (St Helens), Josh Thewlis (Warrington), Kye Siyani (St Helens), Lewis Baxter (St Helens), Lewis Dodd (St Helens), Matthew Foster (St Helens), Reece Hamlett (Wigan), Sam Halsall (Wigan), Sam Walters (Leeds), Umyla Hanley (Wigan).
Yorkshire
Brad Martin (Leeds), Conner Wynne (City of Hull Academy), Connor Bailey (Wakefield Trinity), Corey Johnson (Leeds), Dom Young (Huddersfield), Ellis Longstaff (Warrington), Harry Shackleton (Bradford), Jack Broadbent (Leeds), Jack Croft (Wakefield), Jacob Gannon (Warrington), Kai Tyson (City of Hull Academy), Lewis Peachey (Castleford), Liam Tindall (Leeds), Liam Whitton (Leeds), Mikey Lewis (City of Hull Academy), Morgan Smithies (Wigan), Rian Rowley (Leeds), Riley Dean (Warrington), Tom Holroyd (Leeds), Yusuf Aydin (Wakefield).
Academy ‘Origin’ Series:
Fixture One – Saturday, April 20 (KO 2.00pm), Mend-A-Hose Jungle
Fixture Two – Saturday, May 18 (KO 11.00am), Bloomfield Road – part of Betfred Championship Summer Bash
Fixture Three – Saturday, June 15 (KO 2.00pm), Odsal Stadium