Ellison tonic for Roughyeds

OLDHAM RL coach Tony Benson admits he faces a selection headache ahead of Sunday’s Northern Rail Cup opener against Hunslet Hawks at Whitebank (3pm kick off).

He won’t name his 17 until training tomorrow morning, but he received a huge boost at last night’s session when prop Dave Ellison was cleared to play after recovering from an arm injury.

Ellison was a major doubt earlier in the week but he trained normally and is among the 23 players who are sweating on winning places in the first competitive game of the season.

Only two are out of contention — young forward Johnny Walker, who has a hamstring injury, and joint vice-captain Marcus St Hilaire.

The club’s most experienced outside back has not figured in any of the three warm-up games, but he is expected to be back in the mix by the end of the month.

By arrangement with the club, he started pre-season training later than the rest — due to work commitments — and he is still playing catch-up.

Benson: “Junior (St Hilaire) has been training with us for the past month, but he still needs two or three more weeks before he is ready to go into a game.

“He always keeps himself in good shape and a player with his experience doesn’t lose his skill or his knowledge. It won’t take him long to get up to speed once he feels he is ready to play.”




ROUGHYEDS players will be in Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre tomorrow for a signing session between 10.30am and 12.30pm.