Goole Vikings hooker Jeylan Hodgson has been invited to train full-time with Hull KR over pre-season.
The Vikings kick off their Championship campaign this weekend when they face Keighley Cougars, but they are expected to be without their star hooker, who is still with the Robins and is currently in Tenerife with Willie Peters’ side.
The 20-year-old is the brother of Leigh Leopards’ Bailey Hodgson and the nephew of former KR star Josh Hodgson. However, after returning from a spell living Down Under as a youngster, he joined the academy set up at Hull FC in 2023.
He left the Black and Whites without seeing a minute of first-team action at the end of the 2024 season, though, before penning a deal to join Scott Taylor’s Goole.
The hooker made 13 appearances and scored three tries during the club’s first season as a professional outfit and it seems as though he did enough to catch the eye of the Robins, who have invited him into their ranks to take a long look at him.
Whether he will be offered anything by Rovers remains to be seen, but Taylor has confirmed that Hodgson has been training with the east Hull outfit throughout the winter months on a full-time basis.
Hull KR take Goole Vikings man on trial
“Jeylan has been on trial with Hull KR, training full-time with them and he’s in Tenerife with them now,” Taylor told Serious About Rugby League. “We’ll see what happens with him.
“We’ll have to go this week without arguably our starting one and nine: Guz [Josh Guzdek] through injury and Jeylan with KR in Tenerife but as the weeks go on we should get stronger and stronger.”
He added: “I just know that he’s had the opportunity to train full-time all pre-season and we’ll just go from there. He’s in Tenerife with them now. If he gets an opportunity to stay there and they want to keep him, I’ll be over the moon for him.
“When I took this job and signed these players, I want them to get back to the best and we saw that with Joe Phillips last year, he’s had an opportunity to go to Hull and I feel like I’ve done my job with him and if he needs game time this year, ring me up.
“Jeylan’s the same. I hope he has a chance of signing for KR but whether he will or not is something for them rather than me.”
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