Mersey Tigers coach Tony Garbelotto is hopeful that Perry Lawson will be ready to face Cheshire Jets at the weekend and boost his depleted bench.
Lawson has missed much of the final part of the season with a shoulder injury and didn’t feature in the quarter-final win over Leicester, as the Tigers were down to just six senior players, with captain Drew Sullivan also on the sidelines.
Garbelotto said: “I go backwards and forwards on the chances (of Perry playing). Perry is physically able to play in that he’s able to cut, move and do all of the things but he’s not able to make any contact.
“If someone bashes into him and hits his shoulder in the wrong place, then he could be out for an even longer period of time, so I’m leaving it in the hands of the medical staff.
“If they say he can play, then that would be massive. Even if we got 10 minutes out of him it would be huge. It would give me a rotation of a player, and that’s what we need.”
Meanwhile, skipper Sullivan is unlikely to have recovered from an ankle injury in time for the semi-final, despite showing good progress during treatment.
The Tigers travel to face Cheshire Jets at Northgate Arena on Saturday (7.30pm tip) before hosting the return leg at the John Amaechi Centre in Manchester on Sunday (6pm).
