Naylor hoping to boost Oldham’s squad

Scott Naylor will look at the possibility of replacing injured Jordan Walne in an Oldham squad which is starting to look light on numbers.

In his first game for Roughyeds after signing on a month’s loan from Salford Red Devils, Walne broke a hand in the 26-all draw at Rochdale on Sunday.

He is expected to be out for a minimum of four to six weeks — a hefty blow for the club and the formation of its front-row, which had previously lost the services of Phil Joy with a dislocated shoulder.

Naylor said: “I don’t like talking injuries – they’re part of the game. All clubs have them, you’ve just got to get on with it.

“But I do feel very sorry for Jordan, who was in his comeback game after recovering from another injury sustained at Salford, and was playing really well.

“Hopefully, we can do another deal for him at a later date, but that will be largely up to Salford and to Jordan himself.

“We’ve now got a spot available for a loan signing, so we’ll be looking at it because the squad is a bit light right now and after we play Haydock in the Challenge Cup on Saturday (Bower Fold, 1pm kick-off) we’ve got some tough Championship games coming up.”

The next three are Batley Bulldogs (away), Bradford Bulls (home) and Toulouse Olympique in the south of France.

Also hurt in a derby bruiser last Sunday were Sammy Gee (ankle), Scott Turner (knee) and Liam Thompson, who is said to have a ‘serious’ dead leg.

They will be assessed again on Thursday, but Naylor said it was too soon at this stage to rule any of them out of Saturday’s cup tie, which will be streamed live on the BBC Sport website.

The other three players currently on loan to Roughyeds are Castleford Tigers pair Keiran Gill and Tuoyo Egodo and Salford’s teenage utility forward Liam Bent, who arrived last Thursday along with Walne.