Ronan Dixon has become the latest man to be given a Championship lifeline after Halifax Panthers’ liquidation.
Dixon was at the start of his second season with the Panthers when the club lost its battle with HMRC and saw its membership to the league revoked by the governing body. That was a decision that rendered Halifax’s playing squad free agents and since then a number of players have signed deals elsewhere.
The likes of Brad Day, Jack Hansen and Charlie Graham have already sorted alternative deals in the Championship and now Dixon has joined his former Fax teammates in signing terms with another club.
Dixon has joined up with Batley Bulldogs on a deal until the end of the season, with the prop making the jump over the M62 to Mount Pleasant.
The move ensures the 28-year-old will represent his fourth club in the competition, having started his career with York Knights back in 2017. He made 95 outings for the Knights and scored 14 tries as he developed himself as an established front rower in the second tier.
Since leaving the Knights at the end of the 2022 season, he has had stints with Dewsbury Rams and Halifax Panthers, ensuring he now has almost 160 career outings and 24 tries to his name.
Dixon will be keen to kick on with the Bulldogs and help fill in for the loss of Adam Gledhill, who made the decision to retire in January.
The Bulldogs have struggled for traction over the opening couple of months of the season and currently sit 17th in the Championship table.
They’ve lost their opening three league fixtures, against Halifax, Doncaster and Midlands Hurricanes and they were knocked out of the Challenge Cup by Catalans Dragons.
As such, they’ll be keen to pick up their first points of the season this week against Swinton Lions, with the Greater Manchester outfit also winless at this stage of the campaign.
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