Hughes (left) & coach Steve Fellows (right) welcome Davies

Deeside Dragons have announced the signing of Aaron Davies following his departure from Blackburn Hawks. Davies becomes the second Hawk to land in Wales this week alongside assistant coach Ric Hughes. Dragons also confirmed Andrew Chappell, Gary Dixon and Matt Wainwright have all signed again, while it’s believed forward James Parsons will shortly agree another season.

Davies is the third player to leave the Hawks in just under a week, leaving Player/Coach Jared Owen the difficult task of easing supporters’ worries. “There are lots of rumours and negative stories flying around about the team at the moment,” said Owen. “We’ve lost some good players, but we’ve known about the possibility of this happening for a while now.” He stressed the majority of last season’s play-off final team would return and confirmed he expected to make a number of exciting new signings.

“There’s no point announcing names until they’re confirmed, but there’s no need to hit the panic switch. We’ve worked hard the last two years to improve this squad year on year and we’re doing exactly the same this season. I’ve noticed a few comments saying we haven’t even announced trial dates. We currently feel we’re in a position where we don’t need to hold trials to fill roster spots; we’ll fill them with players we’re targeting and looking to sign. I appreciate times like this create mass panic, but we’ve plenty of time to finish our team building. Have faith and try to stay positive.”

(Image permission: Pete Sheffield)