Sheffield Eagles had contingency plan for Ben Blackmore departure

Blackmore has been a mainstay for Eagles over the past four seasons, during a period of continual change on and off the field.

The 26-year-old, who bagged 18 tries in 31 outings last season, announced he was leaving the club, alongside the retiring Pat Walker, at the end of the final game of the season with Swinton.

Despite losing a key performer, Aston is only looking forward as he continued to finalise plans for next season.

“He's been good for Sheffield Eagles, there is no doubt,” Aston explained to The Star.

“We have helped him to be a little bit more controlled in his game whilst he has been here. He has gone now, we are not going to dwell on it. Would we have kept him? Well, that decision was to be made, but he took it out of our hands in the end. There are plenty of options for us going forward.”

Aston suspects Blackmore’s next move will take him closer to home, and whilst he has plans to offset his departure, he revealed he was still disappointed in the way he lost the ex-Featherstone ace.

He added: “To find out like I did was disappointing, but Ben has obviously decided that he needs to play somewhere else and that's fine. We have had four years, and at times we have enjoyed him, and he has enjoyed us at times.”