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Craig Barker for Town again

Craig has been a real club man with some outstanding performances in the A team and has been described as the back bone of the club.

Coach Gary Murdock paid a fantastic tribute to Craig on the presentation Night by saying " If every player at the club had his attitude and professionalism the club would be in a fantastic position" He helps with the young lads coming through and everyone welcomes him back to the club.

For the third year running Grandma's Pantry show their support for the club by signing up to be Craig's sponsor.

Town Assistant coach leaves

Assistant coach Colin Hall has left the club after rejecting a reduced pay offer. Town have enjoyed steady improvement under Murdock and Hall over the last two seasons and he stressed that he had left on good terms.

"I realise money is tight and was quite prepared to take a cut but the job involved a lot of commitment and they wanted to cut too much," he said.

"I didn't think I was being greedy but understand the club's situation. I've left on good terms and can't speak highly enough of them.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I would like to wish the board, Gary, and especially the lads all the best for next season.

"It was all quite amicable. I haven't left under a cloud and still have a lot of good mates down there."

Tane gives RU a miss

Tane Manihera has kicked in to touch his plans to play rugby union this autumn. The club's top points scorer last season, was to have re-joined his old club Wigton to fill in the gap until the start of the new season in December.

After discussions with Gary Murdock, Tane has decided that good sense dictates that he takes full advantage of the close season to train, rest and re-focus and get his frame in shape for the new season.

"Tane had injury problems last season and back to back rugby has done him no favours in the past," said Murdock. "We want him fresh and on fire for the new season. He's a key man, we didn't really want him playing six or seven games of union before we got him back and he is totally happy with the situation. We sat down and talked it through and we agreed that he needs the rest."

Young Town stars in GB training

Town's young stars Carl Sice and Owen Williamson have both been selected for training and possibly for trials as part of the build up for the Great Britain under-21 tour to South Africa this autumn.

The two youngsters, who currently share the hooking duties in Town's pack, both got letters inviting them for training at Wigan's JJB Stadium in preparation for an NFP vs Super League trial match on October 4 and then a training camp on October 19-21.