Former Huddersfield Town defender arrives at Champion Hill

Ryan Dempsey has brought in his second new face of the summer with the arrival of defender Jodie Lodge to Champion Hill.

The 23-year-old joins after impressing on trial during pre-season, appearing at right-back against Rising Ballers, and was only denied a goal by the crossbar in that game.

Born in Yorkshire, Jodie represented her local side Huddersfield Town throughout the various age-groups in her youth career, eventually making her debut for the Reserves during 2016-17, and also made it onto the bench for a first team game that season.

In 2017-18, Jodie would make 23 appearances for the Development side, the joint-highest in the side, before she moved to university that summer.

Playing for the First Team at Nottingham Trent, Jodie tasted success in league and cup, before graduating in the summer of 2022 and moving south to London.

"I'm so pleased to be here!" said Jodie. "When I moved to London and was looking for a club, this was the first one I saw that I could see myself playing for."

"I came to a few games in February and March and love the look of the set-up here, the ground is great, the fans were amazing, I'd never seen anything like that at this tier, and then coming to pre-season and the trials, the coaching and the way it gets delivered is to a really high standard. I feel like it is a place I will enjoy my football and develop at the same time."

"The girls have been so nice and made me feel so welcome from the moment I turned up, and that was so important, they're lovely and fun but also take things really seriously too on the pitch."

"I'm a true defender at heart, I'm always sizing up who my winger is at the start of a game and trying to ensure they're not going past me, but I also consider myself to be quite quick and going up the wing and getting crosses and shots in, I think I am the modern full-back that managers want!"

"During the trial process, I think it took everyone just five minutes to see what a player Jodie is." added Ryan. "We are really excited to bring her in, she has fitted in perfectly around the squad over the first few weeks."

"She's dynamic, good on the ball, tenacious and works incredibly hard, I think she's going to be an outstanding signing for us, now I'm looking forward to plenty of clean sheets, assists and goals."

"Jodie can play three or four different positions so that versatility will be key during the season. She's had a good footballing background so we won't have to teach her much technically, she will fit in so easily."