Emmitt rejoins Centurions
LEIGH have re-signed Jake Emmitt, bringing him back to the club for a third spell following his release by Toronto.
“Jake’s a great addition to our squad,” said coach John Duffy.
“Everyone knows we are short on numbers at the moment and he’s the best middle on the market at this moment in time.
Emmitt added: “I’m made up to be coming back to Leigh. It feels like I’m coming home. Once you have Leigh in your blood, it doesn’t leave you.”
The 30-year-old retired midway through the 2016 season to move to Australia, but soon returned to play for Duffy at Swinton Lions before joining the Wolfpack.
His return was not secured in time to allow Emmitt to feature against Rochdale tomorrow, though James Bentley, Aaron Smith and Danny Richardson are available on dualregistration.
Hornets will be glad to have a game after the late postponement of last week’s home clash with York - and will be boosted by the RFL’s decision to enforce a rescheduling of the fixture, rather than handing the points to the Knights.
The City Knights cast doubt over Rochdale’s explanation and claimed the points, but the board of the Rugby Football League has ruled that a replay was necessary ‘in order to protect the integrity of the competition’.
An RFL spokesman added: “In making the decision, the board took account of the submissions made by each party and also considered the views of an independent ground safety expert on the submissions made by Rochdale.
“Rochdale will be responsible for meeting the duplicated costs of the York City Knights team and the RFL match officials.
“In addition, the matter will separately be considered by the RFL compliance manager as potential off-field misconduct by Rochdale Hornets in respect of the failure to have a ground that meets the laws of the game and in relation to the process that was followed on the weekend.”
Swinton Lions welcome Featherstone Rovers to Heywood Road tomorrow afternoon.
Jamie Acton is likely to retain his place after an impressive debut last weekend, but Oliver Partington and Chris Hankinson have been included in the Wigan Warriors squad to face Warrington so are unlikely to be available on dual-reg.
Oldham do not have a fixture in League 1 this weekend, but will be pleased to have secured a deal to keep 19-year old prop Titus Gwaze on loan at the club for the full season, having initially joined on a one-month deal from Wakefield Trinity.