Huddersfield Giants Tie Down Asher O'Donnell on Two-Year Deal

Huddersfield Giants have signed Australian forward Asher O'Donnell to a new two-year contract. The 23-year-old is one of the young men the club is building its pack around.

O'Donnell plays in the second row, one of the forward positions in rugby league. Second-rowers are big, busy players who carry the ball into contact, make tackles and do much of the grinding work in the middle of the field. Forwards tend to take the heaviest hits, and the best of them are valued for their stamina as much as their strength.

Last season he made 16 Super League appearances for Huddersfield. Super League is the top competition in English rugby league, and Huddersfield are one of its clubs. Across those games, O'Donnell scored two tries, according to BBC Sport. A try is worth four points and is scored by grounding the ball over the opposition's try line.

Rugby league is a close cousin of rugby union, but the two codes play differently. In league, the team in possession has a set number of tackles to move the ball forward, usually six, before it must hand over possession. That means the attacking side often works in short, repeated bursts, and forwards like O'Donnell spend much of the game making the next carry possible.

For Huddersfield, the new deal keeps a young Australian in the squad for the next two seasons. For O'Donnell, it offers something simpler: a clear run of time at a club that has already seen what he can do. Two tries from 16 games is a useful start, and the next step will be about consistency across a full season.

Rugby league fans, and anyone new to the sport, can follow his progress through the Super League fixtures over the coming years.