Hull Seahawks: Bobby Streetly relishing the challenge brought about by fresh start at Yorkshire rival

In an ideal world, perhaps, that would have seen him compete for a third year in his hometown of Leeds, where he made a name for himself with both the Chiefs and, last season, the Knights.

This summer has seen him move on from the Knights, though, unable to agree terms with management on his role for the forthcoming 2022-23 campaign. But there have been no fallouts, there is no ill-feeling, simply an acceptance on both sides to move on with their respective plans for the new campaign.

And Streetly has quickly done that, Saturday seeing him announced as the latest signing for one of the two new teams playing in NIHL National next season, Hull Seahawks.

It’s a move - ma short one east on the M62 - that brings him together again with a number of familiar faces, most obviously the player-coach Matty Davies and forward Jordan Fisher, both of who Streetly played alongside for Leeds last year.

Fellow ‘D’ Declan Balmer will also be there to welcome him in, an old team-mate from their days of junior hockey at Bradford Bulldogs.

“It was an honour for me to play for my hometown club and I loved every second of it,” said Streetly of his time at Leeds, the two stints interrupted by the pandemic. “But it wasn’t meant to be for this season and I’m just excited for this new challenge now and seeing where it goes.

“It gives me an opportunity for me to carry on playing at this level which was important to me.

This is the level that I want to be playing at. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am and I’ve worked hard this summer away from the rink, dropped a lot of weight.

“I wasn’t prepared to give up on myself because I want to give it everything I’ve got at this level.

“I’m really excited about it all. Matty’s putting a great team together. I got on well with Matty last season and I respect him a lot because he’s achieved a hell of a lot in the game and I’m looking forward to playing for him.”

Streetly’s first-ever game for the Seahawks offers him an early opportunity to come face-to-face with his former team-mates, when Davies’s team visit Leeds in their opening pre-season challenge game on September 3 - part of a three-way Yorkshire challenge tournament also involving Sheffield Steeldogs.

“It will be a weird one but I’m looking forward to going back there,” added the 27-year-old. “When it comes down to it, it will be business as usual. I’m a Hull player now and I’ll only be concentrating on getting the win every time we play Leeds.

“Leeds is a team close to my heart, for obvious reasons, but it’s a case of moving on. Hull is where I’m at and they are going to get 100 per cent from me, the same as Leeds did.”

Davies has put together an impressive roster for his first season in charge in a short space of time. He is delighted to have added Streetly to his line-up, knowing he will get total commitment to the cause.

“I’m really happy to have Bobby on board,” said Davies. “He’s a good lad, a good lad in the dressing room, too - you can’t say a bad word about him.

“He’s somebody who you just know is going to be fully committed from the start. He told me he’s lost a bit of weight, that he’s been working hard and I think he’s got that little fire in his belly where he wants to come here and prove himself.

“I know he’s going to be a solid player back there for us, not put too much pressure on himself. It’ll partly be about finding his game and I know he’s got a good game there.

“Bobby’s a slightly older guy, too, has been around the game a while and the blueprint I’m going for with the ‘D’ is big, strong players that can do a job back there and Bobby fits the bill.

“I want that defence to be a really hard unit to play against and to make life difficult every single night for every other team.”