Chris Thorman is all but certain to be in charge for Huddersfield’s Magic Weekend clash with Wakefield as new head coach Simon Woolford still awaits his visa.
The new Giants coach was expected to be in the country for the start of the week, with the game at St James’ Park set to be his first in charge.
But Thorman confirmed that Woolford was still in Australia as of Thursday due to a wait on his visa, meaning he was highly unlikely to make it in time for Sunday’s game.
“Unless his visa comes tomorrow he won’t be here for Magic,” Thorman confirmed.
“If he gets it Friday, he has to drive to Sydney, get it, get straight on a plane get in the air and 24 hours later land on Saturday. He’d be able to be at our game on Sunday, so I guess we’ve got 24 hours before we know.
“If he doesn’t get it tomorrow he’s not going to be here for Sunday. It is what it is, we’ve been handling it pretty well the last couple of weeks, we talk every day, I don’t think between us we sleep that much. I don’t think you realise the time difference in all honesty, but we’re in constant communication, we Skype, review games and training and stuff so he’s still having an influence.”
Meanwhile, Thorman confirmed that Shannon Wakeman and Colton Roche have gone on month-long loans to Dewsbury and York.
The pair have struggled for game time this season, but will have their chance to impress below Super League level.
“Shannon Wakeman has been injured and picked up a couple of niggling hamstring injuries. What I’ve said to Shannon is that he needs to train consistently in order to be available for selection. He’s sort of trained one, then missed one. I can’t reward that because people like Matty English train every day and his consistency in training is reflected in his performances. That’s where Shannon is. Getting over those injuries, Shannon is going to play for Dewsbury the next couple of weeks and I think that’s important for him.”
On Roche, Thorman added: “He’s still learning, he’s still very immature in terms of his Rugby League age and he hasn’t played much Super League at all. Colton trains really well and has a fantastic attitude, but he needs to play and he’s going to spend the next month on loan at York.”
