Sunday's Coming: Dewsbury Rams

Dewsbury come to Spotland on Sunday having built a new squad around veteran half-back Paul Sykes. And, speaking in the Yorkshire Post this week, Sykes seemed to be getting his club's excuses in early

“We’ve got a lot of young kids and to get them up to speed with the Championship level will be difficult..." He said.  "... we have got potential and I think we will go all right provided we can stay fit and healthy... we’re going to be underdogs, but we like a challenge."

His sentiments are echoed by his coach Lee Greenwood - himself catapulted into the Championship spotlight after coaching stints at Siddal and the University of Gloucestershire All Golds.

Speaking after his side's 34-nil pre-season pounding at York, Greenwood said in the Dewsbury Reporter: “It showed what the coaching staff probably already knew, some lads aren’t quite ready for this level yet. Some lads have got a bit to go yet before being ever ready for this level, and that is just the harsh reality of it. “

But Greenwood remained philosophical about the importance of pre-season results, saying that everyone in his squad was given a "fair chance" over the Rams' four friendlies. He says that the games were more about: "... getting to know the players as quickly as we can and knowing where we are at. It has all been about getting ready for game one, we have got new coaching staff obviously myself as new head coach. There is a number of lads who were here last year and a number of new lads who have come in as well."

With 16 new additions to the squad, Greenwood has his work cut out galvanising them into a unit. The sixteen include Harvey Burnett, Alex Brown and Jordan Andrade from Bradford Bulls and - as seems popular at the moment - three new signings from the Keighley Cougars fire sale.

But whist the 'ins' make interesting reading, it's one major 'out' that really caught our eye - the retirement of half-back Gareth Moore, who's proved a pain in Hornets' backside on more than one occasion. Squeezed between the twin-forces of injuries and running a business, Moore gave the game away at the end of last year any the age of 29.

Half back duties have been picked up by well-travelled scrum-half Simon Brown, who's CV includes Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, York, Halifax, Batley, Hunslet and Sheffield (again - having been hauled out of retirement) - a proper Tour de Yorkshire.

Greenwood's expectations for the season? "... hopefully we will be tough to beat throughout the year,” he said in the Yorkshire Post.

But he concedes that the Rams are a club 'in transition'. Again in the YP he said: "We are in a transition period and probably for a season we will have to stick with being very difficult to beat and getting our fair share of wins.”

“I am learning about individuals every week and every session. It is early days and it’s going to take a bit of time to get to know people and who needs to play where.”

Which is good. Every 'bit of time' where there's doubt and confusion presents an opportunity to capitalise.

Whilst Hornets too are a work in progress, the progress v Warrington was evident. And whilst some gobshites might see a narrow defeat to a second string Wolves as somehow indicative of standards at our club, the four point margin was pretty much par for Championship sides playing Super League opposition in friendlies: Fev going down by four to Leeds, Toulouse going down by four to Catalans Dragons, Barrow nicking a late draw against Wigan and Leigh getting pumped 20-nil by London Broncos. So nothing much to see there, move along...

The challenge this week is for Carl Forster to alight on a thirteen that he likes the look of. There's still some contention around the half-back spots and the sooner that conundrum gets solved, the easier progress will be. Scott Moore, Tyler Whittaker, Elliot Jenkins, Stu Howarth and Dan Abram have all filled the berths in pre-season - but the selection that poses the greatest threat is still a hot topic for debate amongst the Hornets faithful.

As always - the advent of a new season calls for the most devout of beliefs and extreme faith in the boys to deliver. At this stage of development, Dewsbury provide the perfect test - a test of opposing transitions. Indeed, this one could simply boil-down to who wants it most on the day.

Let's want it more. See you Sunday.

Done and Dusted

Hornets 20 - Warrington 24

Well that's pre-season done - and what have we learned? Mostly that playing together over time yields improvements in understanding and teamwork. No real rocket science there - but Hornets did show a tangible improvement in the space of a week as Carl Forster and Tony Stewart continue to mould this new squad into a unit that can hold its own in the Championship.

Augmented by some South-Sea muscle and a smattering of Super League experience, Warrington's tyro Wolves provided a sharp test - as Hornets once again took their DR Partners to the wire in an entertaining contest.

Hornets were out of the blocks immediately: a shift left after just five minutes saw Stu Howarth slot skipper Lee Mitchell into a yawning gap to score: Dan Abram the extras.

It took Warrington a good 15 minutes to get up to speed, but once there they showed an incisive edge with a triple whammy of three tries in nine minutes that effectively won them the game. First-up the eye-catching Riley Dean backed up a Thewlis break to race under the black dot, then added his own extras.

Anglin then squirmed in from close range before the rangy Akauola bounced in off a post to score. Dean with another two conversions to give the visitors a 6-18 lead just past the quarter.

With the arm-wrestle tightening, Scott Moore was unlucky to receive a yellow card for what looked like a case of clumsy mistiming, but 12-man Hornets stood firm and went to the sheds trailing by 12.

Not to be outdone, Wolves' wing Collins began the second half with a yellow card of his own for talking back: the visitors then belied their numerical disadvantage to fashion a Jamie Abram try off a Dean break for 6-24.

As the hour mark ticked round, Hornets found a way back into the game. A Carl Forster pass launched Mike Weldon in centre field, the back-rower showing a handy turn of pace to blast in from 40 metres. He was followed to the whitewash seven minutes later by Shaun Ainscough who rose to gather a Stu Howarth kick and crash through his opposite number to score.

And when Hornets shipped the ball through hands to the right for the impressive Jordan Case to touch down (Abram the two) - it left Hornets with two minutes to try and carve out the win. But Warrington's defence clung-on and, in the end, the result came down to goal-kicks.

Dinky dynamo Dec Gregory picked up the sponsors' Man-of-the-Match for a non-stop display of perpetual motion at the back of the ruck; Shaun Ainscough took the supporters' vote - and you couldn't argue with either really.

In this final test before the serious business starts next weekend, whilst Hornets still look like a work in progress, there is clear progress in the work done thus far - with more to come under meaningful match conditions.

Once again, every gobshite pundit and bar-room bullshitter in the game is writing Hornets off. Indeed, we heard it first hand at the weekend from the assistant coach of a club that should know better. But that's ok by us - let them all underestimate us. It works to our advantage.