Salford Red Devils stand-off half Kevin Brown (above) played in the very first Magic Weekend at the Millennium Stadium in 2007, when he helped Huddersfield Giants defeat Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (as they then were), and he is back in the Salford squad and hoping to appear once again at the Magic Weekend on Saturday when the Red Devils open the Magic Weekend, again with a game against Castleford Tigers.
Brown massed Salford’s 42-14 victory over Hull FC on Monday, but in his final year as a player before he retires at the end of this season he will be hoping for one last Magic Weekend outing 14 years after his first experience of the concept.
Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell has recalled the Steve Prescott Man of Steel, Paul McShane, back into his squad, with a late fitness test likely to determine whether he takes to the field, while youngster Jacques O’Neill is also in the squad after a lengthy injury absence. But the Tigers will be missing Danny Richardson and Greg Eden, as well as the suspended Liam Watts.
St Helens will face Catalans Dragons in the second match tomorrow, and they will do so with an unchanged squad from the one that defeated Warrington Wolves on Monday, while the Dragons will welcome back centre Dean Whare and backrower Matt Whitley, while Bernard Jullien and Corentin le Cam will be absent.
In Saturday’s final game, Leeds Rhinos will be without the suspended Zane Tetevano and the injured Callum McLelland, with Alex Sutcliffe and Corey Hall coming into the squad. Hull FC will be missing Scott Taylor, but they welcome Carlos Tuimavave, Mitieli Vulikijapani and Jamie Shaul back into their squad.
In the first of Sunday’s game, Lee Gaskell and Louis Senior are recalled into the Huddersfield Giants’ squad, while Jermaine McGillvary and Luke Yates will both miss the game. Their opponents Wakefield Trinity have hooker Josh Wood coming into the squad after injury, but Tinirau Arona is absent from the squad.
In Sunday’s big game, Wigan recall Sam Powell and Umyla Hanley into their 21-man squad, with Amir Bourouh and the injured Jai Field both dropping out of the squad. Warrington will be without the suspended Tom Lineham, but coach Steve Price recalls Josh Charnley and Blake Austin into his squad after they missed Monday’s defeat to St Helens.
For the final game of Magic Weekend, Leigh Centurions coach Kurt Haggerty recalls Matty Russell, Iain Thornley, captain Liam Hood and James Bell following their 64-0 hammering by Catalans Dragons last Monday, while Hull KR will be missing the injured George Lawler, with Will Dagger called into the squad by Robins coach Tony Smith.
Castleford Tigers v Salford Red Devils
St James Park, Newcastle Saturday 3.00pm
CASTLEFORD: 1 Niall Evalds, 2 Derrell Olpherts, 3 Peter Mata’utia, 4 Michael Shenton, 9 Paul McShane, 10 Grant Millington, 11 Oliver Holmes, 12 Cheyse Blair, 13 Adam Milner, 14 Nathan Massey, 15 George Griffin, 17 Alex Foster, 18 Jacques O’Neill, 19 Tyla Hepi, 20 James Clare, 21 Jesse Sene-Lefao, 22 Daniel Smith, 24 Suaia Matagi, 25 Jordan Turner, 26 Lewis Bienek, 31 Gareth O’Brien
Outs:. 7 Danny Richardson, 8 Liam Watts, 23 Greg Eden, 33 Jason Qareqare
Ins: 9 Paul McShane, 18 Jacques O’Neill, 20 James Clare, 26 Lewis Bienek
SALFORD: 1 Morgan Escaré, 2 Ken Sio, 4 Krisnan Inu, 5 Joe Burgess, 6 Tui Lolohea, 7 Kevin Brown, 9 Andy Ackers, 11 Ryan Lannon, 14 Danny Addy, 15 Oliver Roberts, 16 Greg Burke, 17 Josh Johnson, 18 Chris Atkin, 20 Harvey Livett, 22 Rhys Williams, 23 Dan Sarginson, 24 Matty Costello, 27 Sam Luckley, 33 Ata Hingano, 34 Nathan Roebuck, 35 Ellis Robson
Outs: 25 Jack Ormondroyd, 29 Dec Patton
Ins: 7 Kevin Brown, 34 Nathan Roebuck
St Helens v Catalans Dragons
St James Park, Newcastle Saturday 5.15pm
ST HELENS: 1 Lachlan Coote, 2 Tommy Makinson, 3 Kevin Naiqama, 4 Mark Percival, 5 Regan Grace, 8 Alex Walmsley, 9 James Roby, 10 Matty Lees, 11 Joel Thompson, 12 James Bentley, 13 Morgan Knowles, 14 Sione Mata’utia, 15 Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 16 Kyle Amor, 17 Agnatius Paasi, 18 Jack Welsby, 19 Aaron Smith, 20 Joe Batchelor, 21 Lewis Dodd, 23 Jake Wingfield, 29 Ben Davies
Outs: None
Ins: None
CATALANS: 1 Arthur Mourgue, 2 Tom Davies, 3 Samisoni Langi, 4 Dean Whare, 5 Fouad Yaha, 6 James Maloney, 7 Josh Drinkwater, 8 Gil Dudson, 9 Michael McIlorum, 10 Julian Bousquet, 11 Matt Whitley, 12 Mike McMeeken, 15 Benjamin Jullien, 17 Mickael Goudemand, 20 Matthieu Laguerre, 21 Corentin Le Cam, 22 Joel Tomkins, 23 Mathieu Cozza, 27 Joe Chan, 28 Sam Kasiano, 29 Sam Tomkins, 30 Jordan Dezaria, 31 Cesar Rouge
Outs: 15 Benjamin Jullien, 21 Corentin le Cam,
Ins: 4 Dean Whare, 11 Matt Whitley
Leeds Rhinos v Hull FC
St James Park, Newcastle Saturday 7.30pm
LEEDS: 2 Tom Briscoe, 3 Harry Newman, 5 Ash Handley, 6 Rob Lui, 9 Kruise Leeming, 10 Matt Prior, 12 Rhyse Martin, 14 Brad Dwyer, 16 Richie Myler, 17 Cameron Smith, 18 Tom Holroyd, 19 King Vuniyayawa, 20 Bodene Thompson, 21 Alex Sutcliffe, 22 Sam Walters, 24 Luke Briscoe, 25 James Donaldson, 26 Jarrod O’Connor, 27 Jack Broadbent, 28 Corey Hall, 31 Morgan Gannon
Outs: 13 Zane Tetevano, 23 Callum McLelland,
Ins: 21 Alex Sutcliffe 28 Corey Hall
HULL: 1 Jake Connor, 2 Bureta Faraimo, 3 Carlos Tuimavave, 5 Mahe Fonua, 7 Marc Sneyd, 8 Scott Taylor, 9 Danny Houghton, 10 Chris Satae, 11 Andre Savelio, 12 Manu Ma’u, 13 Ligi Sao, 14 Jordan Johnstone, 16 Jordan Lane, 17 Brad Fash, 19 Ben McNamara, 21 Adam Swift, 22 Josh Bowden, 23 Connor Wynne, 24 Cameron Scott, 27 Mitieli Vulikijapani, 29 Jamie Shaul, 31 Aidan Burrell
Outs: 8 Scott Taylor, 26 Jude Ferreira, 32 Marcus Walker
Ins: 3 Carlos Tuimavave, 27 Mitieli Vulikijapani, 29 Jamie Shaul
Huddersfield Giants v Wakefield Trinity
St James Park, Newcastle Sunday 1.00pm
HUDDERSFIELD: 1 Ash Golding, 3 Jake Wardle, 4 Ricky Leutele, 6 Lee Gaskell, 8 Luke Yates, 10 Michael Lawrence, 13 Josh Jones, 14 Matty English, 15 Joe Greenwood, 16 Jack Cogger, 17 Chris McQueen, 20 Oliver Wilson, 21 Leroy Cudjoe, 23 Oliver Russell, 24 Louis Senior, 25 Owen Trout, 27 Sam Wood, 28 Sam Hewitt, 31 Olly Ashall-Bott, 32 Will Pryce, 34 Nathaniel Peteru, 35 Nathan Peats
Outs: 2 Jermaine McGillvary, 8 Luke Yates
Ins: 6 Lee Gaskell, 24 Louis Senior
WAKEFIELD: 2 Tom Johnstone, 4 Reece Lyne, 5 Liam Kay, 6 Jacob Miller, 7 Mason Lino, 8 David Fifita, 9 Kyle Wood, 12 Kelepi Tanginoa, 13 Joe Westerman, 14 Jay Pitts, 15 Eddie Battye, 16 James Batchelor, 17 Chris Green, 18 Innes Senior, 19 Jordan Crowther, 20 Joe Arundel, 23 Josh Wood, 25 Brad Walker, 26 Yusuf Aydin, 27 Lee Kershaw, 29 Ryan Hampshire
Outs: 10 Tinirau Arona, 33 Harry Bowes
Ins: 23 Josh Wood
Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves
St James Park, Newcastle Sunday 3.15pm
WIGAN: 3 Zak Hardaker, 4 Oliver Gildart, 5 Liam Marshall, 8 Brad Singleton, 9 Sam Powell, 10 Joe Bullock, 12 Liam Farrell, 13 John Bateman, 14 Ollie Partington, 15 Morgan Smithies, 19 Liam Byrne, 20 Harry Smith, 21 Ethan Havard, 22 Jake Bibby, 23 Mitch Clark, 25 Joe Shorrocks, 27 Kai Pearce-Paul, 28 Sam Halsall, 30 Umyla Hanley, 31 Jackson Hastings, 34 Brad O’Neill
Outs: 6 Jai Field, 33 Amir Bourouh
Ins: 9 Sam Powell, 30 Umyla Hanley
WARRINGTON: 1 Stefan Ratchford, 2 Tom Lineham, 4 Toby King, 5 Josh Charnley, 6 Blake Austin, 7 Gareth Widdop, 8 Chris Hill, 9 Daryl Clark, 10 Mike Cooper, 11 Ben Currie, 12 Jack Hughes, 13 Joe Philbin, 14 Jason Clark, 15 Matt Davis, 16 Danny Walker,17 Matty Ashton, 18 Jake Mamo, 19 Rob Mulhern, 20 Sitaleki Akauola, 23 Josh Thewlis, 26 Ellis Longstaff, 31 George Williams
Outs: 2 Tom Lineham, 25 Eribe Doro
Ins: 5 Josh Charnley, 6 Blake Austin
Leigh Centurions v Hull Kingston Rovers
St James Park, Newcastle Sunday 5.30pm
LEIGH: 1 Ryan Brierley, 2 Matty Russell, 3 Iain Thornley, 4 Junior Sa’u, 7 Joe Mellor, 9 Liam Hood, 11 Ben Hellewell, 12 Jordan Thompson, 13 James Bell, 15 Alex Gerrard, 19 Nathan Mason, 20 Adam Sidlow, 22 Craig Mullen, 24 Keanan Brand, 25 Brendan Elliot, 28 Matty Foster, 33 Rob Butler, 34 Jack Ashworth, 35 Jack Logan, 36 Sam Stone, 37 Jai Whitbread,
Outs: 8 Ben Flower, 23 Tom Spencer, 27 Josh Eaves, 38 Tom Nisbet
Ins: 2 Matty Russell, 3 Iain Thornley, 9 Liam Hood, 13 James Bell
HULL KR: 2 Ben Crooks, 3 Greg Minikin, 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 5 Ryan Hall, 8 Albert Vete, 9 Matt Parcell, 11 Brad Takairangi, 12 Kane Linnett, 14 Jez Litten, 16 George King, 18 Matty Storton, 19 Will Dagger, 20 Mikey Lewis, 24 Joe Keyes, 25 Rowan Milnes, 26 Will Maher, 27 Luis Johnson, 28 Muizz Mustapha, 30 Will Tate, 31 Tom Whur, 33 Jimmy Keinhorst.
Outs: 15 George Lawler
Ins: 19 Will Dagger
