“It’s good to be back” - Brearley re-joins Fax on one-year deal

The 28 year old towering forward, who stands at 6’7”, can play prop or back row and began his career at Rochdale Mayfield, where he was captain, before joining Batley Bulldogs, scoring six tries in 25 appearances.

Brearley the joined Fax from the Bulldogs in winter of 2019 and made five appearances for the club in 2020, grabbing a try in a fourth round cup exit to Sheffield Eagles at Wakefield in February.

In the short season at Fax he impressed scouts enough to earn a Super League contract with Toronto Wolfpack for 2021 but their rejected application and subsequent demise left Brearley without a contract moving forward and that was something Simon Grix was quick to take advantage of by bring the forward back to The Shay Stadium for 2021.

Brearley said: “It’s good to be back and I’m grateful for the opportunity. I was settling in nicely before the lockdown and hoping to kick on from where I left off.

“I can’t wait to get back on the pitch in front of the fax fans hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Head coach Simon Grix said: “Paul went under the radar this time last year as a bit of an unknown to our fans, but impressed in the little time we had. Obviously he had opted to have a crack at Super League with Toronto, but it hasn’t worked out so we welcome him back to pick up where he left off.

“He was gaining in confidence and a pleasure to coach in a sense that he was going out and applying what we had worked on.

“Rugby aside he’s a good bloke, I’m sure the lads will be happy to see him back alongside them.”

Football manager Ian Croad said: “I’m really happy to welcome Paul back and truth is we didn’t want to lose him but he got the opportunity to play Super League. Sorry it didn’t work out, their loss is our gain.”