Eagles to welcome Wakefield into Wheelchair RL

23/02/2023

Sheffield Eagles will play their second friendly game of the season, on Saturday afternoon, away to Wakefield who make their debut in Wheelchair Rugby League.

The match will be held at St Thomas à Becket Catholic Secondary School, WF2 6EQ, at 2pm.

The Eagles will take in the game on the way to Headingley Stadium, where they will attend the Wheelchair Rugby League Awards dinner that evening. Sheffield are nominated for Club of the Year and squad member David Butler is in the running for the Referee of the Year gong.

Head Coach Greg Brown will miss the game owing to other commitments, with Vicky Brooks and Stacey Roulson taking over coaching duties for the day, both qualified along with other club members at a coaching course during 2021. Both have experience leading sessions within the club.

They will have an extended squad to pick from with Joe Wink-Simmonds looking forward to his second game and Julie Finusamni playing her third for the club. Debuts will also be handed to Lisa Pride-Kelly and Ian Kelly who have recently joined the club.

Unfortunately, Jenny Pearson remains on the injury list, with Chris Brown and Ben Simpson also unavailable to other commitments while Stephen Palin-Campbell is yet to return to the squad.

“It’s important that we support the growth of the game” noted Butler, “and being Wakefield’s nearest neighbour, its right that we travel to them to give them their first game,”

“We don’t know very much about them, although we are aware of a couple of their players who have transferred from other clubs, but it will be great for us to give them their welcome into the sport that Rochdale so kindly provided to us in 2021.”

“It’s fantastic that even though Greg isn’t available, Vicky and Stacey are able to step into the coaching role and they’ll do a brilliant job on the day before we move on to Leeds for what I am sure will be a fun and eventful evening!

“It’s amazing to be nominated as Club of the Year in what was essentially our debut year and of course whilst we all hope that we win, just the nomination is a huge honour.”

Eagles: Shaun Orton, Jack Johnson, Lottie Davis-Browne, Emma Pearson, Julie Finusamni, April Brooks, Will Brooks, Joe Wink-Simmonds, David Butler, Chris Haynes, Stephen Reilly, Ian Kelly, Lisa Kelly-Pride