Oldham rely on Russell's cool head
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Your support makes all the difference.Oldham and Leeds share the distinction of opening the British proceedings in the second phase of the World Club Championship, both hoping that they can take advantage of home surroundings tonight.
The North Queensland Cowboys will spy a familiar face at Boundary Park, with their former loose forward, Ian Russell, making his debut for Oldham.
The Oldham coach, Bob Lindner, who played with Russell at Illawarra, has no qualms about throwing him straight into the action.
"He will give us a steady head out there, which is what we need," he said. "He might have slowed down a bit, but you don't lose your ball skills."
Narrow defeats to Sheffield and Castleford have dragged Oldham into bottom place in the European Super League, so it is doubly important that they rebuild some confidence during this interlude.
With his regular stand-off, Francis Maloney, injured, Lindner moves another Australian, Luke Goodwin, into that role. With their first choice front- row of Ian Roberts, Steve Walters and John Lomax all listed to play, the Cowboys look too powerful up front.
Although the Adelaide coach, Rod Reddy, says that he has no stars at his disposal, Walters' brother, Kerrod, looked suspiciously like one as he carved British defences apart last month. Both hooker and coach believe that Leeds will be the stronger for their experiences in Australia. "They considered themselves unlucky against us and we will have to be at our best to beat them again," Reddy said.
Leeds are still without the injured Richie Blackmore and Francis Cummins, but are likely to promote Adrian Morley from the substitutes' bench to start the match.
Warrington begin their Australian campaign at Penrith today, but the most eagerly awaited match of the weekend is on Sunday evening, when Brisbane are at Wigan.
The Brisbane coach, Wayne Bennett, has repeated his offer, made after the first phase of the competition, to help the British game catch up.
"I take no pleasure from the first round of results, because they were not good for rugby league," said Bennett, who has not yet had any response to his offer. "I think the world of [Super League chief executive] Maurice Lindsay and, if he thought there was anything I could do, I would do it tomorrow."
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