11 Giants Under 19's selected for this year's DiSE

A whopping ELEVEN Giants Under 19s have been selected for the England DiSE programme, the most the Giants have ever had!

DiSE is the first step on the England Performance Pathway, a national programme for Year 12 and 13 girls who have the potential to play at the highest level of the game – representing England Rugby League with the Knights or the Women’s senior team.

The Giants players included are as follows:

YEAR 2 

Madison Clegg
Ellie Garside
Martha Hodgson
Abigail Liu
Tegan Sant 
Charlotte Shaw

YEAR 1 

Orla Halliday
Mylee Hartley
Olivia Hobbs 
Bo Lynch
Ava Patnelli

Head of Women’s Rugby, James Westerby is pleased by the recognition that the girls have achieved and also looks at how important the pathway at the Giants is continuing to develop young players and helping them to fulfil their dream of playing first team Rugby League.

“The development of our pathway has been a focus for the last two years. We’ve set out to develop our Under 15s and 16s (RFL Pathway to Performance) and Under 19s, whilst also recruiting the best talent around and creating an environment for them to develop further.”
 
“We have 11 players involved in the DiSE (Diploma in Sporting Excellence) programme, that’s the most we’ve ever had, 5 in year one, 6 in year two. It’s great to see that number of players from the Giants on the DiSE programme. This is also evidence of the continued hard work that goes on in our community clubs week in week out to develop players to this level. These 11 players are in our U19’s squad for 2026.”  
 
“Over the last season, our under 19s have developed so much under Nath Larvin and Sy Sutherland, and we hope to continue that progress further this coming season.”
 
“When we recruit players, we recruit talent/potential, but also players with the right character and attitude. As we know talent alone doesn’t make a player. Their attitude to hard work and willingness to learn makes the difference. It’s been great to see them develop over the last year. They’ve become a unit and that's testament to Nath and Sy and the hard work that they put in week in week out. The hard work that isn’t seen by many.”
 
“Our pathway is now in its strongest ever position. Developing such pathways is not a quick fix. Things have taken time. All members of staff have been involved in creating the right environment for the pathway system to grow. We have some great talent across all the ages. We want to see these players progressing into the first team, just like several of our 19s did last season.”