HEAD coach Stuart Littler will take 22 players to Keighley for Sunday’s pre-season warm-up game at Cougar Park (3pm), including Brad Jinks, Callum Cameron and Kian Morgan, a trio whose only rugby so far this year was in last Saturday’s behind-closed-doors training run-out against a side billed as Salford reserves.
None of them played against a young Wakefield Trinity side or against Lock Lane in the Challenge Cup, Jinks and Morgan because of injury and Cameron because of suspension.
There are 26 players in the full Roughyeds squad, but four are unavailable this weekend, namely Jack Arnold, Jordan Andrade and Jason Muranka in the forwards as well as centre Calvin Wellington.
Prop Arnold is still not ready after an appendix operation; prop Andrade and centre Wellington are under treatment for knocks; and Muranka is following RFL protocols for a head injury.
The 22 to travel, with their sponsors in brackets, are:
- Tommy Brierley (Rugby Oldham)
- Callum Cameron (Ginny and Adrian Alexander)
- Will Cooke (John and Lynda McAndrew)
- Liam Copland (Oldham RL Heritage Trust)
- Jack Coventry (Players’ Assn)
- Ethan Ferry (Roberto Longo)
- Joe Hartley (ORSA)
- Dave Hewitt (Graeme Lee)
- Ben Holcroft (David and Val Webster)
- Brad Jinks (ORSA)
- David Mills (CPD Property Services)
- Kian Morgan (Servo Group)
- Luke Nelmes (Robin Highfield)
- Dom Newton (247Blinds.co.uk)
- Jamie Pye (Gordon Sedgewick)
- Owen Restall (Grant and Sheila Somerville)
- Martyn Ridyard (Sheddings 107)
- Sean Slater (247 Blinds.co.uk)
- Tom Spencer (David and Val Webster)
- James Thornton (Anne Kearns)
- Emmerson Whittel (Pam Taylor)
- Ryan Wright (Barton Cleaning and Maintenance)
Said Stuart:
“All 22 available players will be going to Keighley, but it won’t be a matter of putting people on the field just to give them some game time.
“Apart from Jack Arnold, our latest signing who has had an appendix operation, everyone in the squad has played some rugby. We’ll get Jack playing as quickly as we can, but you can’t rush these things.
“We’re down to the nitty-gritty now and everyone is playing for a spot.
“We’ve got to be up and running in time for the big kick-off on March 27. It hasn’t been easy to arrange warm-up games, but it is what it is and we’ve just to get on with it.”
Keighley’s full squad numbers 33 following this week’s captures of Rory Nettleton and Keenan Dyer-Dixon but, like Roughyeds, they have four unavailable.
Coach Rhys Lovegrove has named the following 29 players:
Quentin Laulu-Togagae, Charlie Graham, Jake Webster, Taylor Prell, Mo Agoro, Jack Miller, Brenden Santi, Kyle Kesik, Aneso Mundoti, Aaron Levi, Scott Murrell, Keiran Moran, Dalton Desmond-Walker, Josh Slingsby, Alex Stephenson, Matthew Bailey, Josh Lynam, Spencer Darley, Aidan Scully, Chris Cullimore, Anthony Dyne, Nathan Roebuck, Harvey Spence, Lewis Young, Kian Fisher, Bradley Ho, Keenan Dyer-Dixon, Rory Nettleton, James Feather.
YEDS, our new Supporters Group, are running a bus to the game, leaving from and returning to the town-centre award-winning real-ale pub, the Fox and Pine, situated on Greaves Street with close proximity to bus and tram connections.
