ROUGHYEDS are pleased and proud to announce the loan signing, initially for two weeks, of Johnny Openshaw, a young hooker from Salford Red Devils whom our head coach, Stuart Littler, knows well. He will go straight into the reckoning for Sunday’s big derby clash with Rochdale Hornets at the Vestacare Stadium.
Johnny, aged 19, has played for Wigan Warriors on scholarship, Leigh Miners, Salford Reserves and England Lions’ youth twice, winning the man-of-the-match award with his performance against Scotland.
“He’s exciting, dynamic and a real hard worker,”
said Littler, who has plotted his career so far, from his early beginnings at Folly Lane and in particular when he was at Leigh Miners, which is Littler’s local club where he has big connections.
Openshaw is his second spell at Salford, where he has been playing regularly in the reserves.
Littler added:
“Our thoughts and best wishes are with Dec O’Donnell, who has an elbow injury, and to whom we send best wishes for a speedy recovery.
“Johnny trained with us last night (Thursday) and I would like to thank all the people at Salford, who dealt with this on our behalf quickly and efficiently, so much so that Johnny was able to train with us last night.
“Liam Copland came through well last night after a few weeks out with a back injury, so that gives us more options in selection with both Liam and Johnny Openshaw in the mix.
“We’re honest with the players on all manner of things and we are honest with them in relation to making the play-offs. We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us, but our full focus is on our selves. That’s the only way we can do it. I know we are six points behind Hunslet but we have a game in hand and that can count for a lot when they’ve got eight games left and we’ve got nine.
“I’m looking forward to a nine-week rush in which we play every weekend with no breaks and a consequent avoidance of stop-go, stop-go, which makes it difficult to get any momentum going.
“Consistency is what we need to aim for, Before we went to Keighley we enjoyed a couple of performances which made me think we had turned the corner, but it wasn’t to be and to make matters worse we had no game last week, so we had to stew on that poor show for two weeks and in the greater scheme of things that doesn’t do any good.
“A few results have gone against us lately, others as well as our own, but we still have a play-off spot in our sights which makes the Rochdale game a very important one for us, not just in terms of picking up precious points but because we are playing derby rivals.
“Matt Calland has said it’s the biggest game of the year for them. That in itself shows what it means to both clubs and to the people of Oldham and Rochdale.
“There will be a decent crowd and a good atmosphere so I and all the lads are hoping the Roughyeds faithful will really get behind us.
“We’ve still got a chance to make the play-offs and that’s the target. We’ve talked about it and we’re all agreed – it can still be done.”
