Widnes Vikings have suffered another injury blow early in their Championship campaign – this time to off-season recruit Jordan Johnstone.
Johnstone, 25, returned to the DCBL Stadium side on a two-year deal from Super League’s Hull.
He is now set to be sidelined for up to a month, confirmed by Widnes head coach John Kear following their 26-18 victory over Keighley at home on Sunday.
The club recently confirmed a blow to half-back Tom Gilmore, who also returned to the club during the off-season from Batley. He starred in Vikings’ opening day Championship win at York. However, the 29-year-old now requires surgery after sustaining a ruptured pectoral injury.
Johnstone also featured in the victory last weekend, starting at hooker.
Powerful forward Adam Lawton also missed out against Keighley due to HIA rules.
Kear confirms Jordan Johnstone blow
“We lost three players last week,” Kear said in his post-match reaction.
“Jordan Johnstone is probably going to be three or four weeks. Tom Gilmore is much longer, and Adam Lawton was just this game. He will be available for next week which is a big boost, especially on Bradford’s small ground. He’ll certainly come into contention.”
Half-back Danny Craven made his return from injury in replacement of Gilmore, joining Joe Lyons in the halves.
He made a try-scoring return to the side that made it two wins from two so far in 2023 following a hard-fought victory.
On Craven, Kear commented: “I thought he played really well to say he hasn’t featured in any of the trial games and he missed a chunk of training with his hamstring injury.
“He put his hand up when he realised when we were going to lose Tom Gilmore and I thought he put a good shift in. He just admitted to me in the dressing room he was a little bit rusty, but his conditioning will come in the next couple of weeks.
“Danny is a quality rugby league player, no doubt about that.”
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