I’m all right - Jack

Date published: 27 August 2015


JACK Holmes, Oldham’s 14-try left winger, has confirmed he will be fit to play again against Swinton Lions at Whitebank on September 6.

Holmes has missed the last three games with a damaged foot, but with the most important challenges of the season looming large he’ll be anxious to reclaim his place in the side.

He won’t be on his own. Loan prop Elliot Liku, who had a slight shoulder injury from the Newcastle game, didn’t play against Barrow, while former Salford forward Will Hope, who signed on deadline day, has still to make his debut. And half-back Steve Roper, for a season and a half as near to an automatic choice as you could get, is currently on the outside looking in after losing his spot to loan teenager David Hewitt.

Apart from Steven Nield, who is out for the season, and the suspended Sammy Gee, coach Scott Naylor will have a full squad to choose a side to carry Roughyeds to their 12th win in a row.

Naylor’s men hope to have bigger fish to fry in the Championship next season, but if they miss out on promotion they can look forward to competing in a bigger League One that could include French club Toulouse Olympique.

The RFL has confirmed the side has been offered a place. Negotiations also continue with a Canadian consortium that hopes to put a Toronto-based team in League One from 2017.

RFL bosses are proposing to introduce a Super 8s-style format next year, in which the 15 clubs would play each other once before splitting into two pools of eight and seven – a League One Super 8s and a seven-team League One Shield. Within that framework two clubs could win promotion to the Championship.