Kingstone Press League One: Hunslet stock up for Canada trip

Coach Gary Thornton admitted getting a squad together for the trans-Atlantic mission has been difficult, but said recruits Tommy Brierley and Luke Fowden will feature.

Brierley, a former Leeds Rhinos academy three-quarter, has been signed on a month’s loan from York City Knights after a similar spell at Coventry Bears and prop Fowden joins, also for four weeks, from Rochdale Hornets.

Thornton said: “It is a difficult situation; for part-time players taking three days out of the working week to go to Toronto is a big ask.

“They’ve all got jobs. Some of them can get time off and get paid and others can’t.

“For the ones who can’t, especially if they’ve got a family, it is a big decision and understandably so.

“But we have got an 18-man squad and we will be okay.

“Getting players in on loan will help us cover that.”

Brierley was a member of the Coventry team beaten 54-12 in Canada earlier this month.

Thornton said: “When I told him his first game would be Toronto away he said ‘great – it was a really good experience’.”

Hunslet fly from Manchester on Thursday.

They return, via Glasgow and a coach journey from Scotland, on Monday morning.