Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
158	158	0	98	0	0	392

With the money acquired from their record transfer fee for Graham Steadman upon his move to Castleford in 1989, the Rovers were able to embark on a mini spending spree to boost their squad, and Keighley winger Owen Simpson was one of their targets. He had been seen playing rugby union for the army and so impressed Keighley that they bought him out of the services in June 1989. 24 tries in 31 games, including two against the Rovers in the Yorkshire Cup game in September 1989, and 8 tries in only 7 matches at the start of 1990/91, prompted Rovers to pay £50,000 for his transfer in November 1990.

He made his senior debut at home to Castleford on 11 November 1990 and scored his first try. His centre was young Paul Newlove, and this was the beginning of an exciting partnership which soon flourished.  Simpson was extremely fast and proved to be one of the deadliest finishers in the game. He was the perfect partner to benefit from the space created by Newlove's presence and polished centre play. 12 tries in 23 appearances were his contribution in his first season, followed by 23 tries in 36 appearances in 1991/92. That was not enough to prevent the Rovers slipping into the Second Division, but Newlove and Simpson helped spearhead an instant return in a record-breaking 1992/93 season.

Cyril Woolford’s club try-scoring record of 31 in a season had been set in the 1958/59 season. Both Newlove and Simpson were soon running in the tries against Second Division opposition in an experimental league system whereby the eight clubs involved played each other four times. On 21 March 1993, Simpson was the first to pass Woolford's record with his two tries at home to Bramley, but Newlove scored the last three tries in a 60-0 victory to equal Simpson's record and then broke it in the following game. The pair scored 82 tries between them as Rovers amassed 996 points and won both the Second Division Championship as well as the Divisional Premiership Trophy.

Newlove departed in the close season of 1993 to end a partnership which had yielded 155 tries in three seasons, with Simpson contributing 69. He registered another 14 in 1993/94, when the good fortune which had enabled him to be virtually injury free and play in 118 games out of 123 since his debut, came to an end. Worse still, he was involved in an accident which deprived him of most of the following season and he only returned to play in the last five games. His last season was 1996, playing his last game appropriately enough against his former club Keighley on 28 July 1996.

Biography by Ron Bailey