JASON Muranka, our Serbian international forward who was injured in pre-season, is included in Stu Littler’s 21-man squad for Sunday’s game at Keighley Cougars, his former club.
It’s the first time 32-year-old Muranka has figured in a Roughyeds match squad since he last played, and scored a try, in the Challenge Cup tie against :Lock Lane at the end of January.
He has been out for the best part of five months while undergoing RFL protocols and regaining match fitness.
The inclusion of the former Dewsbury, Doncaster and Keighley forward is one of three changes in the 21 compared with our last game against Midlands Hurricanes which we won 66-0.
Out are the two suspended players, prop Luke Nelmes and on-loan half-back Robbie Butterworth, as well as young hooker Sean Slater.
Returning to the 21 are half-back David Hewitt and hooker Billy Yarrow, while Muranka comes into a group that includes several ex-Keighley men, three potential hookers and four loan players – three forwards and a centre.
SQUAD: Andrade, Cameron, Carr, Cooke, Coventry, Flynn, Hartley, Hewitt, Jinks, Morgan, Muranka, Newton, O’Donnell, Restall, Ridyard, Spencer, Thornton , Wellington, Whittel, Windrow, Yarrow.
Big-spending Keighley, top of the table with ten wins from ten games, include their two latest signings — Eddy Pettybourne and Junior Sa’u — for the first time.
Pettybourne, a forward, has played in the NRL for several Australian clubs as well as Wigan Warriors and, thanks to ancestry, for New Zealand, Samoa and the United States internationally.
Sa’u, a centre, has played for Newcastle Knights, Melbourne Storm, Salford, Wakefield and Leigh.
The two New Zealanders go straight into the Cougars squad after arriving in this country a few days ago.
Since they won at the Vestacare in round one, Keighley have also recruited the much-travelled and experienced half-back Dane Chisholm.
SQUAD: Graham, Webster, Agoro, Miller, Santi, Kesik, Parker, Levy, Murrell, Gaylor, Pettybourne, Stephenson, Bailey, Chisholm, Sa’u, Roebuck, Spence, Young, Ho, Everett, Feather.
