Sheffield Eagles: James Davey 'unlikely to be risked' against Widnes

The Eagles welcome Widnes to the OLP for what will be a dress rehearsal of the 1895 Cup final which will take place at Wembley on Saturday 24th August.

Aston admitted that despite working around the clock on Davey’s fitness, the ex-Batley ace didn’t come close to shaking off his ankle issue, and the Eagles chief is now unlikely to rush him back knowing there is a big cup final on the horizon.

He told The Star: “He (Davey) wasn't that close in the end. We had him the 19 but he wasn't quite right. We took him to France last week to work on him but there wasn't enough time to get him to where we wanted him to be.

“The injury, it could have been anything, a snap or something worse. We are relieved it isn't. It is still sore and at this stage he'll probably not be right for Friday. We'll not rush him now, we'll take our time and make sure he's 100%.”

Aston had a timely boost with Nathan Mason and Ben Hellewell becoming available from London, and he will be crossing his fingers for similar assistance this week.

He added: “We needed the help from London last week, and I thought they were all great. Jacob Ogden took his try well, Nathan Mason gave us something too and Ben Hellewell was man of the match.”