Salford Red Devils and Leigh Leopards face off on Saturday and both teams have been boosted by the inclusion of star players that had been carrying injury concerns.
For the Red Devils, they saw Ryan Brierley limp off in the Challenge Cup loss to Hull KR but the Scottish international has been passed fit and named in the club’s 21-man squad for their Rivals Round clash with Leigh.
As for the Leopards, there had been concern previously about Lachlan Lam who was utilised sparingly off the bench against Featherstone Rovers, but more concerns surrounded their full-back Gaz O’Brien.
O’Brien missed that game against Featherstone with Keanan Brand deputising at full-back, only for Brand to land an injury that will sideline him for eight to twelve weeks, but O’Brien has made the squad for this weekend despite concerns from head coach Adrian Lam.
Lam had told the press: “Gaz O’Brien’s probably at 60-40, 50-50 chance of playing or not playing, so that’s doubtful.
“If he doesn’t play, we’ll start Zak Hardaker at fullback. So having said all of that, you know, we’ll give everyone right up until kick-off to be ready.”
Full-backs named after injury concerns
Credit: Imago Images
Leigh Leopards have perhaps suffered the worst among all for injuries in Super League so far this season with captain John Asiata, hooker Edwin Ipape and prop forward Tom Amone all being sidelined for extended periods and unavailable for the weekend’s game.
All three of those men made the Super League Dream Team in 2023 which indicates just how tough Leigh have been doing it of late and that’s failing to mention the injury to starting winger Tom Briscoe.
As such the Leopards have had to utilise the loan market and loanee Brad Dwyer features in the squad and will likely start at nine in the absence of Ipape.
For Salford Red Devils, they’re without their own loanee Gil Dudson who is injured and replaced by Kai Morgan whilst former Leigh man Joe Mellor also features.
Salford Red Devils 21-Man Squad
1 – Ryan Brierley
2 – Ethan Ryan
3 – Nene Macdonald
4 – Tim Lafai
5 – Deon Cross
6 – Cade Cust
7 – Marc Sneyd
9 – Amir Borouh
10 – King Vuniyayawa
11 – Sam Stone
12 – Kallum Watkins
13 – Oliver Partington
14 – Chris Atkin
15 – Shane Wright
16 – Joe Shorrocks
17 – Jack Ormondroyd
20 – Andrew Dixon
21 – Matty Foster
22 – Kai Morgan
24 – Joe Melloe
26 – David Nofoaluma
Leigh Leopards 21-Man Squad
1 – Gareth O’Brien
3 – Zak Hardaker
4 – Ricky Leutele
5 – Josh Charnley
6 – Matt Moylan
7 – Lachlan Lam
10 – Robbie Mulhern
11 – Kai O’Donnell
12 – Jack Hughes
14 – Dan Norman
15 – Matt Davis
16 – Frankie Halton
17 – Owen Trout
18 – Ben Nakubuwai
19 – Ed Chamberlain
20 – Oliver Holmes
21 – Ben McNamara
24 – Umyla Hanley
25 – Tom Nisbet
29 – Lewis Baxter
33 – Brad Dwyer
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