Conrad Anderson, catches up with Head Coach: Dean Muir, ahead of this weekend’s fixture with Swinton Lions, recapping pre-season and the fixtures ahead.
The Dean Muir era gets underway on Sunday with the first of three pre-season friendlie. The first examination comes against Swinton Lions at Stadiwm:Eirias in Colwyn Bay, the last time North Wales Crusaders graced the Old Colwyn pitch since they were crowned League One champions.
Muir was appointed in October following the departure of Carl Forster; Dean has wasted no time in adding additions to the squad and has hit the ground running with pre-season training.
Speaking about pre-season so far, Muir commented
“The boys are really enthusiastic, and they are buying into what we want, the talk and the communication is definitely there. The togetherness and tightness is evident to see and I think our skill has been overall good”.
Last week, North Wales Crusaders had an opposed training session with Oldham. On review Dean added
“It was good, I was pleased with what I saw, the lads really enjoyed it, and it was designed to put the team under a bit of pressure, practice in game scenarios and look at different combinations. That concludes the first block of pre-season.
Dean Muir was formerly head coach at Hunslet and gained promotion to the Championship in 2024 against all the odds defeating Sunday’s opposition Swinton Lions in dramatic fashion 20-22 in the promotion final that year.
Now at Crusaders, Muir hinted pre-season will be about experimentation and testing combinations.
“We will use all our squad against Swintion, we will be looking at combinations and contingencies incase of injuries and suspensions. The results doesnt matter and we will not be looking at the scoreboard. We will be looking at individual targets and markers to make sure we continue to progress in the campaign.”
Our squad for the fixture will be named on Saturday afternoon.
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