Following a dominant victory in difficult conditions last weekend, North Wales Crusaders head coach Carl Forster will now turn attention to his side’s next challenge which comes in the way of a trip to Newcastle Thunder in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup.
Speaking to the media ahead of the game, Forster said: “It was good to get the season underway last weekend in Cornwall, it’s a long weekend going there, and the conditions were really difficult for both sides, but we did well.
“I thought our second-half was a lot better than our first, but overall our defence and our kicking game was outstanding, and when we had opportunity to throw a bit of shape and skill we did exactly that.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s game, he said: “It’s another long trip this Sunday, but a different challenge awaits for us.
“Newcastle are a different animal in comparison to what they did last season.
“The lads which they’ve retained now have a a full year playing and a full pre-season under their belts, and they’ve added to that core with players from Super League academy systems, in addition to that they have dual-reg.
“With that in mind, we’ll go up there on Sunday and show Newcastle all the respect in the world, just last weekend they’ve competed with Batley who are an established Championship side, and I think any side that goes up against Newcastle this year thinking they’re getting an easy game will get punished.”
Having seen both pre-season friendlies cancelled, Forster added that he expects to make changes to his side as players go in search of much needed game time: “Look in regards to the squad, there will be changes from last week.
“With the pre-season games falling victim to the weather, the game last week and Sunday’s trip to Newcastle are the first opportunity I have to see different combinations working together ahead of the league campaign.
“With that in mind, we as coaching staff made an early call that everyone would get minutes across these two games, so I’d expect to see six or seven changes to the side from last week.
“After that, every player will be in contention for a spot in the squad for the Widnes game, and competition for places here this year is really, really strong.”
