Huddersfield Giants interim coach Chris Thorman is hoping to have Lee Gaskell back to face Castleford and will make a late call on Danny Brough.
Gaskell has been out suffering an infected elbow which needed overnight hospital treatment, but the 27-year-old stand-off is back into non-contact training and eyeing Sunday’s 3pm kick-off at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Playmaker Brough, who missed the defeat against Catalans Dragons after suffering a badly sprained ankle, is still in a protective boot but Thorman will check on Saturday as to his readiness.
Thorman explained: “Danny is in a boot, but he is a bit of a freak of nature when it comes to injuries.
“I’ve never known anything like him really because, when you expect him to be out a month, he’s out a week.
“So while it’s what I would call a bad ankle sprain, we will have a look at him on Saturday and make a late call.”
On Gaskell, Thorman is more optimistic.
“I said squad wise our one, six, seven and nine were missing and our strike right edge in McGillvary, Cudjoe and Roberts and, if you remove any of those from any team in the competition, you are going to be struggling a bit,” said Thorman, who handed debuts to the Senior twins, Louis and Innes, against Leeds and Catalans respectively.
“Hopefully Lee Gaskell can come back and play in the halves for us, which will definitely help.
“It was a big ask of Jordan Turner to play there against Catalans but I thought he was the best player on the field in the first half.
“He had a real crack for us, bearing in mind we haven’t trained with those combinations, so it makes it difficult. Of the injured ones, Lee Gaskell is the one that stands out.”
Gaskell sliced open an elbow when crashing into the advertising hoardings in the 48-10 defeat at Wigan and, while the wound was immediately stitched, it became infected.
The infection then became so bad that the former St Helens and Bradford Bulls player had to spend a night in hospital for intensive treatment and a re-stitching of the gash.
Kruise Leeming is not expected to be fit to return against Castleford. He is ‘going through a protocol’ having suffered a succession of concussions.
But “bathroom assassin” Oliver Roberts could be back in action against Daryl Powell’s side.
Ireland World Cup star Roberts had to have stitches in a foot after a DIY accident at home when working in his bathroom.
The 23-year-old is not running at the moment but will be assessed by Thorman on Saturday in the hope of being ready for 24 hours later.
