John Cartwright has revealed that Hull FC young gun Ryan Westerman will join Championship outfit Hunslet in the coming weeks after making a successful return to action for the reserves.
Westerman featured for Francis Cummins’ side in their 38-30 victory against Leigh on Saturday after recovering from a lengthy ankle injury that had kept him out for over three months.
The teenager featured against amateur opponent York Acorn in the very first game of the season back in February but has been absent ever since. However, the centre made a strong comeback against the Leythers and will now try his luck in the second tier, gaining some valuable experience in the process.
Westerman made his first-team debut in the final game of last season, playing against Catalans Dragons. He was one of several players promoted to the first-team after graduating from the academy last season and is highly thought of at the club, having played for England under-18s last summer.
Speaking on his return and upcoming loan spell, Cartwright confirmed: “He’s back playing. He’s going to do a loan deal with Hunslet moving forward. I just think it’s the best thing for him.
“With the way the reserves competition works, it’s really tough on the players playing only every single week, so if we can get loan deals for those players and it’s advantageous for us and advantageous for them, we’ll keep searching for those opportunities.
“It’s a two week minimum loan. We can call him at any time. He played pretty well (against Leigh). It was a tough game – it wasn’t played on Leigh’s main pitch, and it wasn’t the best conditions.
“There wasn’t a lot of atmosphere there, but he looked dangerous with the ball. He’s still got a lot of work to do with his defence, but he showed some good signs.”
Elsewhere, Hull also fielded forward duo Brad Fash and Will Gardiner for dual registration partner Doncaster. The two players got good feedback from the Dons, having played their part in the club’s 30-12 victory over London Broncos.
Yusuf Aydin also played for Hull’s reserves, with a spot opening up for one of the three players to take after John Asiata’s hamstring injury.
“They did everything asked of them,” Cartwright continued. “They played good minutes and were consistent. The Donny coaches were very happy with them. The bottom line is we need them playing. I’d love them all to be playing here in a second-grade team in this environment, but that’s not the case, so we need to go out and source opportunities for them to play.”