Duffy welcomes Emmit’s arrival

Swinton coach John Duffy is glad to have acquired Jake Emmit ahead of the upcoming Championship Shield campaign.

The Lions start the Championship Shield today against Dewsbury.

“Jake Emmitt is coming in from Australia and he’s a massive signing for the club,” Duffy said.

“Our captain had to retire a few weeks back and we really miss Mike [Morrison]. Jake will come into that void. He’s a leader and will do really well for us.”

Even with the Welsh international in their ranks, Duffy is under no illusions how difficult the trip to Dewsbury will be.

“We’ve got Dewsbury away, which will be a tough one. They put us to the sword a few weeks ago, so we’re going to have to go up there with a different approach and try and get the two points.”

They might have a tough opener but Smith is glad his players have had a break after the regular season and he is relishing the next few weeks.

“It’s been good to re-fresh and re-charge the batteries and we’ll really buy into these last seven weeks.

“We’re playing all the clubs around us, so there will be some exciting games and hopefully come up with some positive results.”

Dewsbury coach Glen Morrison has urged his players to make a good start to the match this weekend and everything else should fall into place.

“I think if we can start well, it will take a bit of pressure off and we can play some good rugby,” Morrison said.

“I think it’s going to be a tough one and we’re both in the same boat, hopefully we can get the job done.

“We played Swinton in our last home game. We knew it was an important game and got the result and this is just as important.

Morrison admitted he had given his players a rest after a tough season so far.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries all year, so we needed that time off to re-group,” he said.

“We’ve trained hard this week and are ready to go for these seven games.”