Dewsbury Rams new hooker Reiss Butterworth is excited for a new challenge at his new club.
The 21 year old has come through the Bradford Bulls academy and has played at Super League level with Huddersfield Giants.
On why Butterworth chose Dewsbury as his next club to play for, he said: “Whilst being at Huddersfield, Lee got in contact asking what my plans are for next year and after speaking to Lee I knew straight away that I wanted to sign for Dewsbury.
“I just want the opportunity to play regular 1st team games week in week out, it would be massive for me and my development as a player.
“I want to learn off the coaching staff and the experience within the squad like Liam Finn and Paul Sykes.
“Having played at Batley for the majority of last year I played Dewsbury a few times and it was always a good game to be part of especially due to how loud the Rams fans are. A big factor in coming here is also the facilities here, which are really good, with the gym/4g pitch etc.”
As said Butterworth is a product of the Bulls academy and he accepts that was a huge learning curve whilst he was there.
Butterworth commented: “It was massive, Bradford really helped me with my game. Especially learning off the likes of Matt Diskin who was my academy coach at the time, there was no better person to learn from considering he was a Hooker who’s been there and done it all.
“I Came through the academy at Bradford Bulls, I was there for 3 years, I made my professional debut at 18 in a Championship fixture against Halifax, I also went on loan for a month in 2018 to Batley Bulldogs and made my debut for Batley against Dewsbury in the summer bash and scored on my Debut.
“From there I signed a 3 year contract with Huddersfield Giants, where I spent majority of my time playing for Batley Bulldogs in the 2019 season playing around 18 games for the club.
“My proudest achievement is making my super league debut this year against St Helens, then from there starting Hooker against Wakefield Trinity.”
After coming out of the academy the youngster had the chance to play in the Championship for both Bradford and Batley. He found that a valuable experience and says he’s ready to go into battle with the Rams.
He said: “I found out from my time at Bradford and Batley that the Championship is a really tough and physical competition and I can’t wait to get involved and test myself this year.”
Butterworth believes his best position is Hooker which he is best known for. He said: “Yes Hooker is my main position, at hooker you always have your hands on the ball, so you are always involved with whatever is going on.
On his ambitions for the 2021 season, Butterworth explained: “I want to train hard in pre season to give me the best chance to hit the ground running in 2021 and to hopefully play as many games as I can and with the squad we’ve got to really achieve something.”
Finally Butterworth is excited about testing himself in the second tier and pulling on the Rams shirt for the first time.
“I’ve played at the Tetley’s a few times now and I’ve loved it every time I’ve stepped on the pitch. Hopefully the fans will be back at some point this year and that will make it even better
“I can’t wait to pull on the shirt, it’s such a tough and physical competition, it will help me develop my game so much to playing at such a high standard.”
