King may ease Broncos crisis

The London Broncos' latest Australian signing, Andrew King, could be thrown straight into a big match atmosphere at Hull tonight.

The South Sydney centre or full-back flew in yesterday and such is the Broncos' early season injury crisis that he could be required to play within 36 hours of arriving. "It wouldn't bother me if I had to play as soon as that,'' said King. "I might as well get straight into it."

London's injury list lengthened after their Challenge Cup defeat at Leeds last weekend, with Bill Peden out for two months with a broken hand and Rob Purdham and Andrew Hamilton both struggling to be fit for tonight. "Andrew is a very versatile player and it could be that we'll need him straight away,'' said the Broncos' coach, Tony Rea.

King, who played for Keighley in 1996, was close to joining Halifax when his contract with Souths ended this winter. "But I spoke to my manager and we decided there were other options," he said. "I knew a few of the players here at London, like Nigel Roy and Mat Toshack, and I thought I would be better coming here.''

If King does play it could be in front of a startlingly big crowd at the new Kingston Communications Stadium. Hull's attendances have rocketed since they moved to their new home, with over 12,000 watching them beat Sheffield Eagles in the Cup last weekend.

There are even hopes that tonight's gate could exceed that for the first game there against Halifax and top the 16,000 mark.

In one of tonight's other games, Halifax have Daryl Cardiss back for the first time since undergoing a knee reconstruction last June against Castleford, in place of Danny Halliwell, dropped for disciplinary reasons. Halifax have also signed the Australian winger, Andrew Frew, who was previously with Wakefield and Huddersfield, and had a spell at the French club Villeneuve.

Castleford have Francis Maloney and Andy Johnson in their squad for the first time this season, but their new Australian signing, Paul Mellor, is still not fit.

St Helens will be without their Great Britain centre, Martin Gleeson, for two weeks after exploratory surgery on his elbow.

Dr K J Lee, the South Korean academic who donated a new trophy for the Varsity match this week, wants to bring a team from his homeland to play a curtain-raiser for the fixture next year.