Workington Town have announced two more additions to their squad ahead of their return to the Championship in January.
John Hutchings, 22, is a former Wigan and St Helens youngster who joined Town on loan at the back end of last season but has now committed to the Derwent Park club.
The other is also known to West Cumbrian rugby league fans as Oscar Thomas, who will be 28 when the season starts, spent time last season with Whitehaven.
Hutchings joined Oldham just three weeks after coach Matt Diskin but due to lockdowns, injury and the curtailment of the 2020 season in its infancy he had limited opportunities for the Roughyeds.
But an example of his versatility was in a pre-season friendly at Barrow in early 2020, when he came off the bench, was thrown into a position he had never occupied previously, the front row, and had a blinder.
He was named at centre in the Law Cup clash at Rochdale seven days later, but he damaged a hamstring that kept him out for six weeks.
He reappeared in a Challenge Cup tie at Widnes, but he suffered a recurrence of hamstring trouble — and hadn’t played until he was back in contention in May.
Diskin had been happy to use him at centre, wing or second-row and that’s the kind of versatility that appeals to Thorman.
He said: “I genuinely believe that if John has a good pre-season he will regularly feature in our 17 on match days.”
London-born Thomas is comfortable in the halves, at full-back or hooker and has been capped 11 times by Scotland.
He appeared briefly for Whitehaven last season but has a CV which takes in 22 Super League appearances for London Broncos; 41 games for Bradford Bulls and appearances for London Skolars, Sheffield Eagles, Swinton Lions and Rochdale Hornets.
Town coach Thorman said: “Oscar is someone I’ve been aware of doe quite a while now.
“He’s a very talented individual and can cover a variety of positions.
“I feel that with some investment from our coaching department and also some buy-in from him on our key principles he has the ability to be very successful at Town.
