Keighley Cougars could be without their inspirational pack leader Jason Ramshaw for up to three months.

Ramshaw went down with a bad knee injury after 15 minutes of Sunday's Challenge Cup defeat to Villeneuve at Cougar Park. He will see a specialist today.

Ramshaw suspects he has medial and anterior ligament damage in his knee and the very least he can expect is to have to wear a leg brace for a couple of weeks.

The 30-year-old hooker is likely to be replaced in the number nine shirt by Steve Pickles who filled in for Ramshaw on Sunday.

Meanwhile, ambitious Wake-field Trinity are lining up a bid for Australia's top player.

The Wildcats, who tried unsuccessfully to sign All Black winger Jonah Lomu in the close season, have the same backers in place to fund an audacious bid to land Test scrum-half Andrew Johns, who was recently awarded the 1999 Golden Boot as the outstanding player in world rugby league.

Newcastle Knights' star Johns, who missed last autumn's Tri-Nations battle with New Zealand and Great Britain through injury, is certain to be in demand when he comes out of contract later this year. But any deal could cost Wakefield up to £1 million.

Wildcats have signed ten new players for a serious assault on the Super League title but still have a vacancy on their overseas quota. They hope to sign Johns - and maybe brother Matthew - on a long-term contract from August.

Wildcats chairman Ted Richardson said: "We are interested in any top-quality player who comes available and the Johns brothers are certainly in that category."

Clubs are unable to approach Johns until March 31 and are prohibited by Super League regulations from signing overseas players on short-term contracts.

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