Scrum half Daniel Russell has been Gateshead’s key player in Thunder’s rise to the top half of the National League 2 table. He was just one of a host of signings brought in by Dave Woods in the close season that has turned the North East club from a lower table team to genuine promotion challengers.

Russell, 25 next month, has been playing rugby league since the age of 4, playing at junior representative level from the age of 14, having signed for Parramatta Eels. He then moved to Penrith Panthers, where he made four appearances in the NRL.

What are your hopes for the rest of the season?

Hopes for the rest of the season are to make the playoffs, as well as push for promotion up to NL1 for next year, as well as hope to stay injury free.

How impressed are you with the set up at Gateshead?

Very impressed with the set up we have here, we can use the institute of sport for our testing as well as analysing our games with sports performer, which back home only the NRL and reserve grade use.

Read the full interview in Issue 5 of Code13 Magazine, out now!