Workington Town are hoping to boost their pack for the start of the League One Super Eights with the return of several stars.

Kris Coward, Kyle Shelford and Phil Joseph could all be in contention for the trip to Newcastle Thunder on Sunday.

The injured trio will all be assessed after training sessions this week to see if they are fit to return.

“This is a big week for us, preparing for the first game of the Super Eights,” admitted Town director of rugby Les Ashe.

“We are hopeful that some or all of them will be back available to us, but we have to be sure of their fitness.

“So, our medical team will assess them and they will do contact work at training and we will make a decision later this week.”

There was more good news for the Derwent Park side.

Tom Curwen will also be assessed as he looks to make his return from injury in the next couple of weeks. But Joe Ryan’s injury is more serious than it first appeared and he is still out of action.

“It will be great to have more competition for places and to have a good, strong pack to take us forward into the eights,” added Ashe.

“Hopefully, our pack will push on and we can play off the back of it.”

And Ashe is well aware that Newcastle pose a strong threat, with six wins under their belt over the last two months, before they were just pipped by Hunslet in the final League One game.

“We didn’t have a good first half against York but we came back in the second and were much improved,” said Ashe.

“So, hopefully, we can build on that and challenge all of the other seven teams.

“From a board point of view, we would like to think we have a team that is competitive enough to challenge for the top-five, so every game for us will be like a cup final.”