Whitehaven Rugby League have announced the loan signing of utility forward Luca Atkinson from Betfred Super League side Huddersfield Giants.
Atkinson played the majority of his junior rugby at West Bowling, notably winning the National Conference Division One title in 2019.
That year, the forward also earned his first international call up to the England Youth squad and played in the win over Wales.
Regarded as a young starlet, Atkinson Joined Leeds’ scholarship in 2018,and quickly created a good impression among the coaches.
A year later, he played every game for coach Mark Butterill, scoring his only try against Bradford Bulls at Emerald Headingley Stadium.
He made his first academy appearance at the stadium too, starting in the post season friendly against NSW Country Rugby League
Making the step up to the Academy in 2020, Atkinson was part of the biggest cohort of players signed for the Under-19s by the club. He started in wins over Newcastle and Bradford before the league was shut down by Covid.
A year later, he was a key forward for coach Chev Walker as he made nine appearances and scored one try.
He battled injury for most of the 2022 season, making his sole appearance in a 54-4 win over Newcastle in the Reserves competition.
Last season he spent time on loan with Keighley Cougars in the Championship and Whitehaven coach Jonty Gorley was pleased with what he saw from Atkinson at training last night.
Whitehaven travel to Doncaster on Sunday and Gorley said: “We needed a back row and he will stiffen us up in that area. We put Kingy back there last week but we missed him in the middle.
“Luca has trained with us and Ashley Kilpatrick has come up trumps after scouring far and wide and we’ve got him in just before the deadline.”
However, Whitehaven have confirmed that Brett Bailey and Dan Hindmarsh have both been recalled by their parent clubs – St Helens and Castleford respectively.
Gorley added: “We would like to thank both players for their efforts in their spells with the club.”
