Whitehaven are taking a Fijian forward on trial for a month as they try to boost the squad for the Betfred Championship run-in.
They have signed Ratu Jowasa Tubailagi Drodrolagi, who is commonly known as Joe Drodrolagi.
The 27-year-old Fijian has previously played in Australia in the NSW Cup and has played in the Elite 1 competition in France where he played for Carcassone.
Over the last two years he has been involved in 34 games, starting 21 of them and scoring five tries.
Head coach Jonty Gorley said: “We’re getting Joe on a month’s trial so that we can hopefully get him longer term.
“He is a typical Fijian front row forward because you know what you’re going to get from him with strong carries and strong defence.
“They only know one way these blokes and he’ll bring some punch to our go forward game while he’s got some offload ability too.
“He comes highly recommended from Alex Chan, the Catalan representative who we dealt with last month for Cesar and Coco. Alex rated him as one of the best front rows in the French Elite 1 comp at the moment so I can’t wait to see what big Joe brings to the table.”
Director Ashley Kilpatrick has continued to put in the work alongside the football committee to increase the squad heading into the final weeks of the season.
He said: “He’s been playing for Carcassone in the French competition and previously played for Newton Jets and Western Suburbs Magpies in Australia. He comes highly recommended to us. He’s a big lad who will add some fire power to our middle.
“I’d like to thank the Whitehaven RL Vice Presidents for helping us with the flights and travel to the UK for Joe. It makes our jobs easier when we look at recruitment with these guys and girls behind us!”
