Squad update: Tuesday 3 March

Rochdale Hornets chairman Andy Mazey has provided a men’s squad update, including the latest news on the current injury situation.

Gary Thornton’s side fell to a 20-0 defeat at Whitehaven on Sunday, with no less than nine registered first team ruled out through injury or unavailability.

Speaking to the Hornets media team, Mazey provided the following update for supporters:

Disappointingly, Jamie Pye, who we signed from Salford, was unable to complete the pre-season with us due to a change in his personal circumstances. Jamie has stepped away from the game for the time being, with our support.

Paddy Jones is a fireman who lives in Liverpool and was struggling to manage the travel over to Rochdale alongside his day-to-day commitments, and decided to retire before the season commenced. Again, we supported Paddy in his decision as player welfare is always of paramount importance to us as a club.

Jordan Paga, a key signing for us, unfortunately suffered a broken leg during pre-season. He is currently working with Lyndsey Watkins and our medical team on his rehabilitation, but as yet we do not have a definitive return to play date.

Matty Unsworth successfully underwent ankle surgery following a serious injury suffered against Swinton Lions in Round 1. He is making good progress, but is still likely to be ruled out for the remainder of the 2026 season.

Jordan Andrade successfully underwent surgery following a broken arm against Workington Town in Round 2. He is progressing well, with a return targeted in May.

Max Flanagan has missed the last two games since sustaining a concussion in our Round 3 victory over Keighley Cougars. As Max had suffered two concussions in the past 12 months, he needed sign off from and neurologist. He has now completed concussion protocols and is available for selection this week.

Dan Nixon was also absent after sustaining a concussion in our defeat to Hunslet. He has completed concussion protocols and is available for selection this week.

Ethan Wood was ruled out for the trip to Whitehaven due to concussion protocols, but he is also now available for selection this week.

Dan Lloyd was injured playing on dual-registration, and we await an update on his current situation.

Our skipper, Ross Whitmore, missed the trip to Whitehaven due to representing Scotland over in Las Vegas at the weekend, but will return this week.

With the above in mind, hopefully supporters can hopefully understand the need to utilise the loan market as we are doing, particularly with a relatively small squad to begin with. 

The reality is, without the three loanees on Sunday, we would not have had a full team to travel to Whitehaven. 

Overall, we are satisfied with the improvements made on last year and our current position. Having made such a good start to the season, I do understand it raises people’s expectations, but we must stay grounded and consider all factors when we evaluate results and performances. 

While we approach every game to win and that’s non-negotiable at any club I’m involved with, we also have to be realists and can’t escape the fact that sides like Hunslet who operated as a Championship club last year, with Championship revenues and top end Championship players such as Lee Gaskell and Eddie Battye, whose combined contracts alone equal out entire contract money spend, means we will, at times when not at our best, come up short. 

Nevertheless, supporters can rest assured that everyone is working extremely hard, on and off the pitch, to ensure standards remain high and performance levels are as good as they can be, in what is a more physically demanding Championship competition than League One ever was.

We are in as good a place as anyone could have reasonably expected right now, both on and off the pitch, despite the circumstances laid out in this communication. 

There are some tough challenges for our boys to face in the weeks ahead, against clubs spending hundreds of thousands more than we do. We therefore all need to stick together and get behind the team. I know they will reciprocate by giving everything they have for YOUR club.

Thank you for your continued support.

Onward, Hornets!
Andy