Sheffield Eagles: Mark Aston close to finalising squad for next season

Whilst confirming the vast the majority of his recruitment has been completed, the Eagles are yet to officially confirm any new arrivals for next season.

Aston wants six new faces, and recently told the Star he is almost there with his last remaining targets as he looks to build on a progressive 2019 season.

“Most of them are over the line now. There's one, maybe two, that just need to be finalised, but the squad is certainly taking shape to what I’m looking for now. I think the supporters will be happy when they see some of the names. We'll have all our numbers in line for the start of pre-season.”

Before last season’s revival, Aston had been damning about the previous club culture, and his recruitment has again been geared around adding players who will fit in with the current dressing room environment, which he lauded several times during the last campaign.

Aston explained: “We're looking forward to getting them back in early enough, and working them hard again. We want to keep building this culture which we have developed over the last year. Most of the new faces are over the line and we are happy with how we are progressing with the one or two outstanding ones.”

Meanwhile, Aston missed out on the Championship coach of the year award to York’s James Ford at the recent rugby league awards.