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LIONS BOOSTED BY TRIPLE LOAN DEAL!
1 day ago
Hartill, Okoro and Morgan join Swinton We are delighted to announce the signings of three loan players, all of whom come into squad contention for our home match against Widnes Vikings this coming Sunday (Heywood Road Stadium, Sale, kick-off 3pm). Hooker Ben Hartill is already well known to us, having done well on loan from Warrington during three outings earlier in the season, two of which were won. Meanwhile 21 years old Dan Okoro has also seen Heywood Road action already this season, having played in the forwards for Bradford Bulls against Swinton back in May. Like Ben, he now joins us on a month’s loan from Warrington Wolves. Also, we welcome Kai Morgan, a 19 years old half-back from Salford Red Devils, who has commenced an initial two-week loan period here at the Lions. Swinton Lions Head Coach, Alan Kilshaw, gave his thoughts on all three arrivals. He said, “Daniel Okoro is a player I have rated for a number of seasons. I had him at Hunslet on loan in 2022 and it’s been great to see him continue to develop and be given an opportunity at Warrington. He did a lot of damage playing for the Bulls against us this season, so we are looking forward to having that fire power on our side of the fence this time around!” Alan continued, "In respect of Ben Hartill, we obviously had him on loan earlier in the season and he featured in our wins at Halifax and at home to Dewsbury. Josh Eaves has had a set-back following the injury he sustained during the Barrow game, so we were keen to bring in another hooker. So as soon as we knew Ben was available, we jumped at the chance to bring him back. We are very grateful to Gary Chambers and Sam Burgess for their support in respect of these two deals." In respect of Kai Morgan, Alan said. "He is a really talented half-back and with a great football IQ. He was an England academy international and came up through the ranks at Leeds Rhinos. More recently he has been working with some quality coaches at Salford Reds and now needs to play games and get some regular tough competition into him. We are therefore delighted to have him at Swinton, particularly as we have been looking to add a half since Dec Patton’s departure. After this weekend, we feel Kai’s running game can then complement Jordan Gibson. This will give us more depth across the halves, particular with Jack Stevens and Joe Purcell having had some useful game time recently, and so after a few weeks of having to move players around we should hopefully be able to re-settle our spine and get some consistency back into our selections.” Lions’ CEO Steve Wild added, “I think it’s fair to say that with injuries, departures, and suspensions, our squad has felt a little skinny of late, particularly in certain positions and arguably this has contributed to some recent inconsistency following our bright start to the season. However, we’ve been fully committed to supporting Alan and his staff in maintaining a strong squad, and after a busy couple of weeks behind the scenes, I’m delighted that we’ve been able to secure these loan deals in respect of Ben, Daniel and Kai, especially following the permanent arrivals last week of Ant Walker and Jordan Brown. Our numbers are now back up and hopefully the whole squad will feel a positive boost. Finally I want to extend a big thank you to our friends at Warrington and Salford for facilitating these arrangements”.
