NATHAN Conroy reckons he can rediscover his best form at Cougar Park in 2017 and help fire Craig Lingard’s new-look side to promotion.

The former Bradford hooker, who made his Super League debut for his home-town club as an 18-year-old, has joined Keighley from Championship outfit Dewsbury.

He will be dropping into the third tier for the first time in his career but has previously played for Oxford on loan in League One and is relishing being a part of the new chapter unfolding at Cougars under Lingard.

The former Batley assistant boss has made a raft of signings after being appointed as Paul March’s successor and Will Milner became his 11th new recruit after joining from Featherstone on a permanent basis.

Milner, a utility back most at home in the halves, originally joined Cougars on loan in early June and made eight appearances last season, scoring two tries.

Lingard's men will open their campaign at home to North Wales Crusaders after the fixtures were published on Sunday.

Conroy said: “I've looked at the recruitment that Keighley have done and they have made some great signings.

“I want to be challenging for promotion this season and getting the Cougars up into the Championship, so I reckon we are going to have a good year.

“To say that Keighley have cut the budget, it's an excellent squad and I definitely think we can challenge for promotion this season.

“It's going to be difficult to compete with Toronto because they are full-time and have a very strong squad, so I think the rest of the other teams will be fighting for that second spot.”

Conroy impressed for Dewsbury under Glenn Morrison but felt it was time to for a new challenge elsewhere.

The 21-year-old, who will compete with club captain James Feather for the starting hooker's role, added: “I had interest from another couple of clubs but I thought Keighley was my best option.

“They offered me a good deal so I was happy to sign.

“It's pretty much on the doorstep and I know a lot of the lads there, so I think it's the best place to slot straight in and hopefully start playing some good rugby.

“Sometimes you've got to take a backwards step to take a forward one in your career.

“I'm just looking forward to playing regularly and hopefully I'll be playing every week.

“If I can play week in and week out, then I think I can find my best form and play my best rugby again.

“The more minutes I play, the better I seem to play, so that's my aim.

“Some of the players that Dewsbury have brought in are similar to me, so I didn't want to get stuck into a rut of playing one week but not the next.

“I've not met Craig Lingard yet but I've had a conversation with him and we're all going to meet up as a squad at the start of November.

“We'll have a good crack together in training, so hopefully it won't take us too long to gel.

“Hopefully Craig will bring a good philosophy to the team and we can have a good crack at promotion.”

Conroy will be reunited with a number of old team-mates from his Bradford academy days, where he played with the likes of Adam Brook, Liam Darville and new signing Emerson Whittel.

Conroy, who lives in Leeds and works in insurance, said: “With knowing quite a few of the lads I should be able to fit in quite comfortably.

“Nathan Kitson is another Bradford lad and I played a couple of games with him on loan at Oxford.

“I speak to Adam Brook regularly and we're good mates outside of rugby, even though we haven't been playing in the same team for a while.

“It's a bit of a reunion from the Bradford academy days and I'm still good mates with a lot of the lads from that time.”