Experienced hooker joins Canes from Batley
We are delighted to announce the signing of seasoned hooker Brandon Moore from Batley Bulldogs for the 2026 season. As with Tyler Dickinson, Moore joins on an initial 12-month deal with a club option to extend this until the end of the 2027 season.
Brandon, 29, has made exactly 250 professional career appearances since the then-19 year old scored a try on his debut during Halifax’s 0-78 demolition of Pilkington Recs in Round Four of the 2016 Challenge Cup, with all but four of those appearances occurring whilst in the Betfred Championship. Whilst his lengthy stay in the Championship will continue for at least one more season, he has now swapped Mount Pleasant for The Alexander Stadium and will be part of Head Coach Mark Dunning’s line-up as we embark on our maiden Championship campaign.
Originally from Maryport in Cumbria, Brandon’s rugby league career started with Super League club Castleford Tigers’ academy before being released at the conclusion of the 2015 season. Having initially agreed to sign a contract with Halifax’s reserve grade for the 2016 season, then Head Coach Richard Marshall’s prediction of Moore making the first team came quicker than expected as he would go on to make 19 appearances across all competitions in his debut year, scoring four tries.
Despite his youth and relative lack of experience in the professional game, Marshall’s faith in Moore would see our new signing make no fewer than 188 appearances across eight seasons for Halifax, scoring 33 tries. Moore would also get a taste of Super League in 2020, as he would join Huddersfield Giants on loan after the Betfred Championship season was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Well known for his scoot from dummy-half and ability to support a break by teammates, Brandon would regularly score 4-5 tries a season and assist many others.
After eight years at The Shay, Brandon would depart Halifax for fellow Championship side Batley Bulldogs ahead of the 2024 season. There would be a touch of irony in Moore’s new choice of club, as Moore became the first person to score a try for Halifax at Wembley since 1988 when he crashed over against the Bulldogs during their 12-10 1895 Cup Final win. He would go on to spend two seasons at Mount Pleasant, scoring six tries in 58 appearances.
Speaking with CanesTV, Mark Dunning had this to say on landing Moore:
“We’re delighted to welcome Brandon and his family to the Canes and our wide wider Canes family.
With Danny Barcoe’s injury against Whitehaven meaning we needed to recruit a hooker for 2026, we were delighted to hear Brandon was available. He is an experienced and formidable hooker who will suit our spine nicely and add some additional experience alongside some of our more recent signings. He is a threat from both dummy-half and in supporting runs and will pull his weight in defence when called upon.
Brandon – like Tyler – is another quality player with 250 career games under his belt at Championship and Super League level. Despite this he’s still only 29 years of age and he’s another player I firmly believe is entering the prime of his career as he joins us. I’m sure fans will be very impressed with how quickly he links up with Aiden and the rest of the team once he has a couple of months of pre-season behind him.”
Brandon’s signing takes our off-season squad announcements to a dazzling dozen, with eight of those being new signings (Else, Craven, Tyrer, Roberts, Jebson, Restall, Dickinson and now Moore) and four being retentions secured following the end of the 2025 Betfred League One Season (Horner, Kirby, Moran and Jordan-Roberts). With up to five retentions still to be announced and news of our 2026 season tickets and fixtures still to be released, there’s still plenty of reasons to keep your eyes glued to our socials over the coming weeks.
