Coach McCallion to stick by Thunder.

Byline: By Jeff Bowron

Thunder coach Seamus McCallion has reaffirmed his commitment to the struggling Tynesiders ahead of tomorrow's trip to Chorley Lynx in National League Two.

The Irishman said that, in the unlikely event he was offered coaching roles at Castleford Tigers or Halifax, he would turn them down.

Superleague basement club Castleford recently sacked coach Graham Steadman while Tony Anderson, formerly assistant coach at Gateshead during the club's Superleague days, suffered a similar fate at Halifax.

McCallion won Challenge Cup and championship honours during a successful eight-year spell at Halifax but would not be tempted to return to his old stamping ground.

"I've only just started at Gateshead," said McCallion. "The club is going forward and with the grit and determination shown by the players I wouldn't want to move on.

"It was always going to be tough at Gateshead but we are moving in the right direction and should have a stronger squad over the summer months."

McCallion, still waiting for his first competitive win since replacing Paul Fletcher this year, is putting his faith in a number of signings from local union clubs.

Peti Keni, Charlie Roe and Matt Cooke will all feature at Chorley tomorrow if they didn't pick up injuries in Blaydon's final game of the season against Waterloo today.

And more union players, including two each from Darlington and Scotland, are expected to join the club with McCallion tracking several other players.

"Performances this season have been better than I expected," added the coach

"We played well for an hour against London Skolars before losing 22-21 and we should have picked up a few victories by now."

Thunder's unchanged starting 13 has top try scorer Robbie Peers making his 50th appearance at fellow-strugglers Chorley but centre Craig Firth is still out of favour and Joe Bagshaw and Tom Clough have left the club.

THUNDER: 1 Stephenson, 2 Bunting, 3 Kent, 4 Neighbour, 5 Peers, 6 P Thorman, 7 Fisher, 8 Line, 9 N Thorman,10 Harrison, 11 Garside, 12 Bradley, 13 Rutherford. Subs (from): Keni, Roe, Walker, Cooke, Fleming, Hodgson.