Blades, who has been vice-captain for the last two seasons, had been widely tipped to move on with a number of clubs reportedly keen to sign him up.

However, Morgan has revealed that Blades, one of his more experienced campaigners and an excellent club man, has agreed to stay on at Ovenden Park along with a number of others who battled so bravely in the face of a disasterous National two campaign last time out.

Hooker Rob Townsend has also committed himself to the Halifax cause along with forward Dominic Moon and centre James Endersby.

They join Oli Marns and Iain Gordon while evergreen second rows Martin Smith and Richard White have agreed to come back in "play as required" roles.

Morgan has also used skipper Danny McGee's contacts at Sale Academy to snare lock Josh Cammis, while there are still a number of targets who have intimated they would like to sign but are yet to commit.

"It is a great position to be in at the end of May and we are still pushing forward," said Morgan.

"Having players like Adam Blades back on board sends out a real message of intent.

"There had been all kinds of rumours flying around about players leaving and the club had run out of money.

"But we have bided our time and just got on with the job of building a competitive squad.

"That process is about 97 per cent completed now, but we are still not resting on our laurels. I feel we are really going places now and when we all meet up again for pre-season in July I fully expect everything to be in place and everybody feeling ready to go."