Swinton trio back in contention

Swinton pack men David Mills, Lee Wingfield and Danny Meekin are queuing up for a place in the line-up to face Gateshead Thunder in the Carnegie Challenge Cup at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday (2pm).

The Lions trio have been sat on the sidelines for the last two Championship games – victory over Batley and defeat to Leigh last week.

But they will be back in the reckoning when Swinton take on coach Steve McCormack’s old club in the fourth round clash.

The Lions will be without dual-registration players Carl Forster and Scott Hale, who St Helens want to keep available in the cup, while Mike Morrison picked up an injury against Leigh.

Prop Morrison has trained this week and could be in contention but centre Adam Higson is doubtful despite an x-ray on his injured arm showing no serious damage.

Threequarter Alex Hurst is definitely out with a knee injury.

Competition for places is fierce and while McCormack has said he doesn’t want to make too many changes he is confident in the quality and depth of his squad.

He said: “We’ve got good players sitting on the sidelines every week but this club needs competition for places.

“If players play well they will keep the jersey and despite the defeat I can’t fault the effort or the attitude against Leigh.

“I’m expecting a good cup tie against Gateshead who ran us close at home in the league last year.

“They have some good players and we will give them total respect.”

McCormack is urging the fans to get out and support the team on a rare Saturday fixture.

He said: “We really appreciate our supporters and it makes all the difference to the players.

“Both sets of supporters made the atmosphere really good against Leigh last week.

“It would have been nice if it would have been a bit closer.

“Our fans at the end were great. They appreciated the effort the players put in and we were disappointed we didn’t produce a better show for them.”