Sheffield Eagles: Blow as key man ruled out for rest of season

The 32-year-old left the field on a stretcher following a challenge by a combination of Jono Smith and Josh Johnson, which left the former Barrow ace needing oxygen on the field before he was taken to hospital.

It looked as though James had suffered a serious ankle injury, but after the game coach Mark Aston confirmed there was also damage elsewhere, confirming his inspirational leader would play no further part in the 2019 campaign.

Aston told The Star: “The inspiration for the win came from losing Matty James who will probably be out for the rest of the season now. The lads dug deep for him. I am immensely proud of them for that.”

When asked if James had, as suspected, dislocated his ankle, Aston also revealed more damage to his on-field enforcer.

“Probably (damage to) tib and fib as well,” he revealed. “He’s got a break in there. I am gutted because he has been absolutely outstanding for us. Our thoughts are with him. He leads the boys so well. It is unfortunate, but it is the game isn’t it? It couldn’t have come at a worse time for us because we have some tough games coming up.”

The Eagles could be dealt a double blow after centre James Glover was also forced off with a knee injury in the early stages after a poor tackle by Lewis Charnock.

Glover was also seen with crutches at Bloomfield Road, with Aston confirming he’ll have to wait for further examinations to determine the extent of the problem, which if proven to be the more serious ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury, could see Glover also miss the rest of the season.

Aston explained: “It is a little too early at the moment, he is sore. It could be an ACL, we just don’t know, so he could also be done for the season. It might not be that serious, we’ll have to wait and see, hopefully it won’t be too serious but it has swollen up and inflamed. We haven’t been able to do the assessments we need to yet, we’ll have to wait for the swelling to go down.”

The Eagles came from behind at the break to return to winning ways, and face Toronto at the OLP this Friday night.