Barrow Raiders have completed the loan signing of 21-year-old Wakefield Trinity centre Jack Croft.
Croft, who made his debut for Wakefield in 2019, where he scored a try in a 48-10 loss against St Helens, will, be on loan for a minimum of two weeks.
In total he has made 10 appearances for Trinity in the Super League and also spent some time in the Betfred Championship with Oldham last season, scoring in their 16-12 victory over Halifax Panthers..
He trained with the Barrow squad last night and goes straight into contention for Sunday’s trip to Bradford Bulls.
The Barrow chairman Steve Neale said: “ We want to improve and learn lessons from the 2019 Championship campaign when we were perhaps guilty of not moving quickly enough to bolster the squad when it was decimated with injuries.
“We fully intend to utilise loan deals and are still in the market, should the right players become available following the loss of the Walne brothers.
“Jack comes to us highly recommended having broken into the Wakefield Trinity Super League team in 2019 before a serious ACL injury cut short his progress. Strong in both defence and attack, he will help fill the gap left by the impending suspension of Hakim Miloudi.”
Miloudi is ok to play at Bradford tomorrow but there is a mounting war of words developing over his sending-off last week against Batley Bulldogs.
Batley Bulldogs have firmly denied allegations of one of their representatives using unacceptable language towards Hakim Miloudi.
The French international is facing a ban of at least eight games after being charged for multiple offences by the Rugby Football League’s match review panel.
The panel say he appeared to make a tackle off the ball; and then subsequently tried to lift the player off the floor as he stayed down.
The RFL have combined the two incidents to a Grade F charge, which carries a suspension tariff of eight or more matches.
The Match Review Panel charged him with making contact with an opponent off the ball and moving an injured player.
The case will be heard at an Operational Rules Tribunal hearing on Tuesday when Miloudi will make a personal appearance.
Separately from his charges, Barrow have submitted a complaint to the RFL on behalf of Miloudi and captain Jarrad Stack.
They have alleged that unacceptable language had been directed at Miloudi during the match; and again after the incident that saw him sent off. Stack was sin-binned in the match.
The allegations will be investigated by the RFL’s compliance department.
But now the Bulldogs have released a statement, firmly denying the allegations made by Barrow and making two complaints of their own to the RFL.
A Batley statement said: “We have been advised by the RFL of an allegation of unacceptable language in the game at Barrow relating to their player Hakim Miloudi who was sent off in the match and faces a potential lengthy ban.
“We have not had full details of the allegation but can confirm a firm denial.
“We would also confirm that our club has now submitted two complaints for investigation by the RFL. Firstly, of the same player feigning a head injury in the incident in an effort to deflect away from his own behaviour which resulted in his sending off.
“Secondly, an assault on our player James Meadows who was a substitute and off the field at the time as the same player was leaving the field having been sent off. We now await the outcome of the full RFL investigation of the whole incident.”
