Salford wait on specialist verdict on injured duo

Drew Darbyshire
Ollie Partington Salford Red Devils SWpix

Photo: Allan McKenzie/SWpix

Salford coach Paul Rowley says they are awaiting specialist prognosis on Ollie Partington and Joe Burgess after the injured duo had scans.

Earlier this week, Yorkshire Live reported that prop Partington (knee) and winger Burgess (shoulder) are set to miss a ‘considerable chunk’ of the season through injury.

When asked about their injuries in his weekly press conference, Rowley responded: “We are just waiting for the guidance from the specialists. They are both injured so thats obviously disappointing for them and us.

“Joe had a shoulder injury and Ollie is a knee injury he’s been carrying for a few weeks but he took a knock to it in the Warrington fixture.

“They have had scans so they are just waiting to see the specialist. I think they are both in today so we should have a better prognosis later.”

Ollie Partington blow

Partington, who joined Wigan from Salford in the off-season, has been one of their standout players in the opening three rounds of the season.

Rowley added: “He has a respect for defence and has built his game on defence but I think everybody watching the games will be impressed with the way he is a footballer.

“I don’t want to make too many comparisons but he is almost like a Harry Pinner-type footballer. He can play with shape, he can pass the lead out of the back, he can pass the ball, he mixes his game up incredibly well so its an awful shame for him and us that he has gone down with injury.

“His start has been brilliant. I think it is a little bit too early to start campaigning for him on the international front but if he had of carried on and was consistently performing like that, then I would have been banging that drum for him well and truly. Hopefully when he’s back from injury I’ll get the opportunity to do that.”

Paul Rowley provides full injury update

The Red Devils boss revealed that they could welcome back Sam Stone, Andrew Dixon and Danny Addy within the next two or three weeks.

Rowley says they will travel to Hull on Saturday with 18 players.

“Nobody is back this week, so I think we’ve got 18 or something like that,” he said.

“We don’t have any choice do we? We can sit and sulk about it or just so we’ll choose the latter. Spirits are good, we’ve had a really good training session so we are a pretty resilient bunch and we’ll crack on.

When asked about possible recruitments, Rowley said: “We just don’t have the resource to do anything at the minute so we’ll just crack on until we do.”

Saturday’s fixture between Hull FC and Salford will become the first ever pay-per-view streamed Super League game on the Our League platform.

Match coverage will start at 2.45pm, ahead of kick-off at 3pm at the MKM Stadium in Hull – and the match will have a video referee.

It is the final game of the round, with Wigan kicking off the action against Catalans on Thursday, live on Sky Sports.

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