LIONS SOUND RALLYING CALL TO FANS

12 May 2023

Squad announced for Bradford trip amidst unprecedented injury situation

Following last week’s heroic victory over Toulouse, achieved despite a horrendous injury list at the club, the Lions are once again going to have to do it the hard way when visiting Bradford Bulls this coming Sunday (14 May @ 3pm)

Head Coach Allan Coleman explained, “The injuries situation was already putting a massive strain on our resources even before the Toulouse game, but during the match we lost four more lads and we were down to 13 men with a quarter of the game left. Joe Lowe and George Roby were helped off with bad injuries that will keep them out for a number of weeks, plus Nick Gregson had to leave the field. Then we also lost Luke Thomas to concussion. To make matters even worse, in the aftermath of the game we’ve lost yet another four, all of whom were immense against Toulouse. It’s backs to the wall stuff now, and I want our fans to understand where we are at. Usually clubs don’t advertise injury problems, but this situation in my experience is unprecedented and the story needs to be told as it is. We need our fans now more than ever to be understanding and to support us through this situation. We’ll go to Bradford as massive underdogs yet again, but we’ll give it our best shot.”

Lions’ CEO Steve Wild added, “Since last week’s brilliant win we’ve had no opportunity to celebrate. Speaking to Allan daily, it’s all been about how the heck do we get a team on the field for Bradford. Our medical and backroom staff are brilliant and they are already performing miracles, but no way can we risk players who aren’t fit enough to play. The phone lines have been red hot for the last few days and thankfully we’ve had some great help from St Helens, Salford and Warrington, and to those clubs we extend our grateful thanks. With a mind-numbing 16 players now unavailable, quite simply without the assistance of those three Super League clubs we wouldn’t be taking a full team to Odsal. Okay we’ve named a 20-man squad for Sunday, but the fact is that only 17 of them have any hope of being fit enough to play. The Board echoes our Head Coach’s call for the spirit of Swinton Lions to get us through this difficult period.”

 Swinton Lions squad, Bradford Bulls (away), Sunday 14 May @ 3pm

Dan Abram; Andy Badrock; Lewis Baxter (DR); Amir Bourouh (Loan); Louis Brogan; Wes Bruines (DR); Mike Butt; Jordan Case; Josh Eaves; Jordan Gibson; Lewis Hall; Jayden Hatton; Rhodri Lloyd; Dan Norman (DR); Ollie Olds; Scott Parnaby; Gav Rodden; Joey Romeo; Jake Spedding; Tom Whitehead (Loan).