Deadline deals bolster Oldham

NEW signings Elliot Liku and Will Hope will provide in-form League One leaders Oldham with a squad of 23 players for the final promotion push.

Prop Liku (19), from Leigh Centurions and back-row man Hope (22), unattached after several years at Salford, became Oldham players on deadline day - the Hope deal only minutes before shutdown.

Neither played in the 23-6 win at North Wales Crusaders, but they will join Roughyeds for their first training session tomorrow night.

Liku, whose father Tau played for Tonga in the 1995 World Cup and spent several seasons with Leigh in the 1990s, is on loan until the end of the season.

Hope, whom Roughyeds boss Scott Naylor has been chasing for several months, has come out of self-imposed rugby league exile to sign as a fully-fledged Oldham player, also until the end of the season initially.

Partner club Huddersfield Giants have recalled their loan and dual-reg players due to a large injury list, but Oldham believe they are covered for the run-in following the recent captures of Richard Lepori and Jon Ford, the anticipated return from injury of Tom Ashton and the latest signings of Liku and Hope.

Steve Nield is waiting for knee surgery and has accepted that he will not play again this season.

With the signing drawbridge up, Naylor has 20 players of his own available, plus Ford (Salford), Liku (Leigh) and David Hewitt (St Helens) on loan.

The 17 on duty in Wrexham came through relatively unscathed and Naylor expects to be picking from strength when he selects his side for Sunday’s big Whitebank clash against second-placed Keighley Cougars. Cougars are two points behind with a game in hand, so an Oldham win would put Naylor’s men firmly in the driving seat.

Roughyeds will be expecting their biggest crowd of the season, perhaps nudging into four figures.