Lack of Skolars knowledge leaves Eaton in dark (From Keighley News)

Lack of Skolars knowledge leaves Eaton in dark

9:10am Thursday 2nd July 2009

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Keighley Cougars head coach Barry Eaton will take nothing for granted when his team entertain London Skolars for the first this season on Sunday (3pm).

The Skolars are currently lying second from bottom of Co-operative Champion-ship One with just one win – at Workington Town – and have just parted company with coach Callum Irving.

Eaton said: “The Skolars are an unknown quantity for us. I’m hoping to see a DVD of their defeat by Dewsbury Rams later this week. But to be fair, even that might not count for anything given the assistance they are receiving from Harlequins RL.”

The Cougar boss was referring to the deal between Skolars and their engage Super League rivals Harlequins to allow the Championship One side to use some players who are not gaining much game-time in Super League.

Eaton said: “Against the Rams they played Joe Mbu at prop and he’s got loads of Super League experience. We just don’t know who we’ll be playing against for sure.

“We’ll just be concentrating on our own performance. We’ve enough to do on that alone without worrying too much about who Skolars are going to include.”

Eaton conceded his have not strung a quality 80-minute performance together for a number of weeks, even though they have maintained a place in the top four.

“We’re striving to improve our consistency,” he said. “But apart from Dews-bury, all the other clubs are capable of beating each other.

“Sometimes it looks as though your team isn’t playing well when in reality it’s because they’re under so much pressure from the opposition.”

Eaton has identified Skolars’ Paul Thorman, brother of Hull FC’s Chris Thorman, as a talented half-back, while full back Corey Simms and centre Chad Isles are both serious handfuls.

He admitted: “On paper, we should blow the Skolars away but they proved themselves a dangerous team when they won at Derwent Park so they’ll be getting full respect from us.”

Coming into contention for Cougars will be prop Brendon Rawlins, who was due to land back in Manchester yesterday after being granted his work permit late last week.

Eaton said: “We’ll check on Brendon’s fitness but given that Craig Brown has been ruled out with a broken thumb, we shall need Brendon’s power as prop.”

Whether centre Damien Reid will be restored to the side after losing his place in Sunday’s 44-16 win over Hornets RL is a matter of conjecture. There are serious concerns about his fitness and his replacement Daley Williams produced a good display against the Rochdale team.

Gavin Duffy’s ankle injury sustained at work is responding well to treatment but Ryan Smith could fill in if needed.

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