Grimshaw playing through the pain barrier

COMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE . . . Oldham's Danny Grimshaw

SCOTT Naylor has revealed that Danny Grimshaw has been playing for several weeks with a groin injury.

"He's been going through the pain barrier for the sake of the club and the team," said the Oldham RL boss, who rested the squad's senior citizen at Swinton and may do likewise at Bradford Bulls on Sunday.

Though generally regarded as a half-back, the 30-year-old former Hunslet Hawks man has answered the club's call by playing most of his 19 games for Roughyeds in the centre following the mid-season departures of Tom Ashton and Jon Ford.

Added Naylor: "He's been playing in pain every week and it's not something that is going to get better without some rest.

"He was struggling after the Workington game so that's why he didn't play at Swinton. As far as the Bradford game is concerned we'll assess him again at the end of this week and see how he is then."

Prop Jack Blagbrough, another absentee from the side that won it's fifth game in seven outings at Heywood Road, will have to go through post-concussion protocol and pass a head test before he can be considered for the Bulls game.

DETERMINED

On loan from Sheffield Eagles, he felt unwell after the Workington game and ultimately failed the obligatory test.

"That's why he didn't play at Swinton," said Naylor. "It was obviously the right decision to test him because he failed it.

"He'll now have to follow protocol again this week and take another test before we know whether we can consider him this weekend."

Naylor confirmed that Jack Spencer got through his comeback game with no further shoulder problems.

The same couldn't be said of Adam Clay, who was still bothered by the grade-two tear in his shoulder which he suffered against Workington at Bower Fold on July 24.

Explained Naylor: "He was determined he was going to play in the second Workington game a fortnight later and he also put up his hand for the Swinton game.

"Unfortunately, he came out of that game with the shoulder feeling worse than it did originally. We'll look at him again later, but we're already thinking of giving him the weekend off."

Michael Ward will be available again after serving his two-match ban and Richard Lepori could be back in the selection mix after missing the two Shield games with a badly-gashed hand.