By Loosehead
January 25 2005

Leeds Tykes' David Doherty was today announced as the clubs latest signing. David who is still only 17 ( he will be 18 on Friday January 28th) has signed a 3 year contract with the Leeds Tykes. David who was on a dual code contract previously said it was a hard choice to make He said he respects both Rugby League and Rugby Union but has decided that his future lies in Rugby Union.

David was born in Morley and is currently a first year A level student studying English, Economics & P.E at Notre Dame College. He came to play rugby at Leeds after first playing amateur Rugby League for Churwell, and he also had spells with Morley Rugby Union at junior levels. He joined the Rhinos academy and whilst here he came to attention of Tykes academy coach Stuart Lanacster.

Director of Rugby Phil Davies was very pleased with the signing of David. Phil has said that he is one of the most outstanding players of his age in the country; he was recently captain of the England U18s, is a member of the England Junior elite academey at Bath, and was also part of the successful U19 side that won the Colts Cup.

The coaches will be looking to build on his league experience: His tackling, handling, running lines and angles etc and will look to bring on his contact skills. He will be handled carefully like other players in the system like Tom Biggs, Michael Cusack and less recently Tom Palmer who was a former Leeds Academy player.

David Doherty is seen as a full back/winger and will train with the first team squad for the rest of the season along with other players who graduated from the academy this season like Danny Care, Jordan Crane as well as Tom Biggs and Mike Cusack.

Phil Davies also confirmed that David wants to go on and gain international honours. "With his determination and hard work combined with the group of players we now have at the club, hopefully we can help him realise that ambition", Davies said. He is pleased with David's progression at the Tykes and the future is bright within the existing Academy set up. Speaking about the academy set-up, Davies added "the excellent current position is due to the previous four years hard work and is the focal point for future development under Stuart Lancaster's guidance".

Asked on what his personal ambitions were David said that he hopes to gain Internationl honours for England at senior Level and has personally targetted the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad. Although Dad is Irish and played junior Gaelic Football in Donegal his preference regarding national ambitions lie with England rather than Ireland.

From a fans perspective this is very good news as now there are a number of players who have come through the academy ranks in the last year or so: Tom Biggs, Mike Cussack, David, Jordan Crane, Danny Care, and then there are the likes of Rob Vickerman and Danny Paul. All the players bar Jordan are local lads from the Yorkshire area and this can only be good news for the club as a whole. This is where the dual code nature of Leeds Rugby comes in; the Leeds Rhinos blazed the trail and pulled a number of academy players through into the first team who are now pivotal and formed the core of the SuperLeague IX winning squad: Danny Ward, Danny McGuire, Chev Walker, Rob Burrow etc.

Following that example, lets hope its not too long before Leeds Tykes adds to that success.