Sheffield Eagles: Why Jason Crookes left the Eagles

The Eagles were keen to keep hold of the former Dewsbury and Batley ace, who had his progress stunted last season by two shoulder injuries which restricted his game time.

When he was available, the 29-year-old impressed Aston, with the Eagles chief keen to extend his stay at the Olympic Legacy Park.

But a change of job was set to restrict his involvement according to Aston, who must now look elsewhere.

Aston told The Star: “Jason Crookes has taken on a new job but now cannot commit to playing week in, week out and also training.

“Obviously, you need to be training to be considered for playing, so we were only looking at him being available for a couple of games a month, so that doesn't fit unfortunately.

“I suspect he'll find something in League One with a team that can work around that, but it wasn't something which was going to work for us.”

Aston was also keen to keep Sonny Esslemont who has also left, but Joslin Landu, James Thornton and Shaun Pick were expected departures.

Aston added: “There are times in this game when you have to part company.

“The likes of Shaun and Jason have been good for us, and Sonny Esslemont also did well for us last season. It happens in the game, they have moved on and we will too.”