WE’VE known that it’s been touch and go with Manchester Phoenix for a while now but they were hopeful to see out the rest of the season, which is why the news this week that they’ve had to fold is so sad.

We went up to Widnes to face them last Sunday and even though it was another new home for them, the fans were in good spirits and were really behind them, and I’m sure it was a packed house.

They must have made their decision with good reason but it’s never nice to see that happen in the league you are playing in and the thing that you don’t like to see is people losing their jobs – that’s the collateral damage.

They have been using temporary players in recent weeks and those guys will have other clubs and thankfully, most of the guys who have left have already managed to find new clubs.

There’s only a few guys still looking so if one or two clubs can come in and pick them up until the end of the season, then they will be OK. They are talented guys, so hopefully they can find something.

That’s the sad part as a player as you never want to see one of your fellow players out of work.

We were also due to play Manchester this Sunday, so we only have one game this weekend now.

In the last few weeks when we have had games against Manchester, we’ve known we would be up against a weakened team, so we’ve put a real importance on the other game that weekend.

In that sense, there won’t really be a change in mindset when we play Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday.

A few of the guys on the Swindon roster live away from the town, so we have to travel in for games, so even the home fixtures feel a bit like a road game to us.

With us only having one game, it will be nice to get of extra time to spend with the family, which we don’t usually get during the season.

For me, it’s just nice to have the time. The quality family time, especially with a new born baby, is so precious. I don’t think we have any plans right now. We might just go for a walk, which is a little thing that we don’t get the chance to do together enough.

We will leave it all on the ice on Saturday night and hopefully we can enjoy our day off afterwards.