HALF-BACK Adam Brook has suffered a broken wrist and could be out for six to eight weeks.
News of Oldham’s first major injury setback this season emerged after last night’s (Thursday) training session.
The on-loan half from Halifax was hurt in last Sunday’s win against London Skolars and the full extent of the injury has since been confirmed by a fracture clinic.
He is due to go back today (Friday) to have the wrist set in plaster and he’ll then face a spell of several weeks on the casualty list.
“It could be as many as six to eight,”
said head coach Scott Naylor, who is also wrestling with several other concerns ahead of Sunday’s fourth-round Coral Challenge Cup tie against Widnes Vikings at Bower Fold.
Definitely out are on-loan winger Lee Kershaw, whom Wakefield Trinity don’t want to be cup-tied; the suspended trio of Danny Bridge, Anthony Bowman and Aaron Jones-Bishop; Luke Nelmes (unavailable); and the injured Brook, Danny Grimshaw and Paul Crook.
The prospects of a few others are in the balance, including Matt Wilkinson (shoulder), Titus Gwaze (hamstring) and Jack Holmes, Dave Hewitt and Zack McComb, who are all unwell and struggling to shake off a bug.
Added Naylor:
“Hopefully, things will be brighter by weekend. I expect a few of the lads back then and we’ll take a look at them and assess how they are.”
Widnes will be without their star centre Anthony Gelling, who has been granted permission to return home Down Under for a couple of weeks to attend to family matters.
The former Wigan and New Zealand Warriors centre, who also missed last Sunday’s 50-4 win at Rochdale, has scored five tries in six games for the Vikings and has made a big impact at the Halton Stadium.
Winger Ryan Ince, the Championship’s top try scorer with 12 — three more than Toronto’s Matty Russell and Toulouse’s Stan Robin — has formed a free-scoring centre-wing partnership with Gelling.
Without him at Rochdale, he still scored four tries as the Vikings recorded their fourth win a row to finally wipe out, in their first seven league games, their 12-points penalty for going into administration.
As well as missing Gelling, Widnes were also without half-back Tom Gilmore, whose hamstring injury means he is doubtful for the game at Bower Fold, and new signing Dom Speakman, who was unavailable due to work commitments.
New loan signing Luis Johnson, from Warrington, made his debut at loose-forward, however, after getting RFL clearance following the club’s successful emergence from administration.
Of their last ten meetings with Widnes, going back to 1999, Roughyeds have won four and lost six.
One of those defeats was the Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final at Rochdale in 2001 which Widnes won 24-14 to earn their place in Super League.
Three of the Roughyeds’ four wins were in the NFP — 31-20 at Widnes and 34-26 at home in season 2000 and 20-12 at home on New Year’s Day 2001.
Oldham were also winners, 22-20, at Widnes the last time the sides met in the Northern Rail Cup in February, 2009.
In the ten years since then they’ve never met so Sunday’s tie will be something of a rarity.
