Injury-free Jack Bussey’s return is a big boost for Featherstone Rovers, says coach Ryan Carr

Bussey had not played since suffering elbow damage when Rovers won at Barrow in April, but made his comeback – out of position – in last weekend’s 24-20 home win over Leigh Centurions.

Primarily known as a prop, he filled in at stand-off earlier this season and played hooker in the game two days ago after Australian star Cameron King was ruled out.

Carr said: “It was a big effort from him to play hooker in his first game back and pick up the workload Cameron usually brings to us.

“He had triceps surgery and we got him back a few weeks ahead of schedule which is a credit to him and the staff.

“They did a really good job to get him back early and it’s handy, when we lose Cameron to injury, to have an option there.

“He is an option pretty much everywhere on the field for us so he has got good versatility.”

Carr is hopeful King will be available for Saturday’s game at runaway leaders Toronto Wolfpack and Connor Jones, a new signing from Queensland side Northern Pride, could also come into contention.

Of King, he said: “It’s just a rolled ankle.

“We couldn’t get the swelling out of it, but it’s not a bad one.”

Jones can play half-back or hooker and Carr added: “He’s arrived from the Queensland Cup, he has good experience there at a similar level to the Championship and will add a bit of depth to our spine.”

Rovers climbed above Leigh, on points difference, into fourth place in the Betfred Championship following the result two days ago.

“It was a really pleasing win, a massive one for us in the context of how the competition has been panning out,” Carr observed.

“It’s also good for our confidence as a group. It was a high-quality game, they didn’t make a lot of errors, we didn’t make a lot of errors – it was pretty end-to-end stuff.

“But defence was the difference for us – the amount of opportunities the referee gave them and we turned up and solved was massive for us.”