With pre-season starting in earnest in a couple of weeks, The Bees are trying to sign new and returning players to allow the club to field two full Senior sides as often as possible and also to put together a First XV that will make a significant impact in our first season in Yorkshire Two.

The Players Macdonald announced today are Innocent Mazhambe, Will Broadbent and Ciaran Kelley.

Innocent Mazhambe

The Bees are delighted to welcome back Innocent Mazhambe.

Innocent played a couple of games for the Bees during the 20/21 but then suffered a nasty injury during the preseason of 21/22. He has been taking time out to rehab and recover whilst focussing on his professional career during the last couple of seasons.

A big ball carrying 2nd row or blindside, Innocent will certainly add some bulk and add to the competition in the "boiler room".

Speaking of Innocent’s return MacDonald said “In my opinion, Innocent has long been a player with great potential, a high ceiling and is certainly capable of playing at a higher level than Yorkshire Two.

But for his untimely injury, I’m sure we’d have seen Innocent turn out a couple of levels higher up the league structure. His addition to our now very competitive pack adds both strength in the depth of the number of players available to us, but also boosts the talent we have on our roster for the season”

Will Broadbent

Another returning player is Will Broadbent. Will is an openside with a tenacity matched by his engine. A product of Woodhouse Grove, Will is described by MacDonald as a fine example of a “well coached player” .

MacDonald continued: “Having an openside of Will’s intelligence, ability to read the game and who worksas a pure ball magnet is everything his teammates could wish for in both attack and defence.”

Will has recently moved to Leeds City centre, which means Will is likely to play less than he would like, however, Macdonald wanted to secure the services of a player of Will’s calibre that would benefit the squad once the games and workload begin to stack up later in the season.

Ciaran Kelley

Ciaran rejoins the Bees having briefly turned out at the beginning of last season before returning to Rugby League.

However, he has now committed to turning out at Wagon Lane for the new season; the league half-back will compete for the scrumhalf jersey.

Macdonald commented on his signing of Kelley:

“Despite training solidly for 2 months last time out, we never got to see what Ciaran could do last season. However, with our increased playing numbers and with fixtures lined up for the Barbarians, I’m looking forward to seeing Ciaran in action with a view to push on and compete for a first team place."

The Bees extend the warmest of welcomes to all 3 players listed above. However the door is not closed on any new or former players wanting to join us at Wagon Lane. Pre-season training starts in earnest on Tuesday 9th July and all are welcome.