Dean Muir has named his squad for the 1895 Cup game this coming Sunday (March 2nd) at the South Leeds Stadium against Widnes Vikings.

Many supporters will remember when Widnes were the ‘Cup Kings’ but Hunslet have good memories of cup clashes against the Vikings.

The Parksiders won the 1934 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley 11-5 despite playing a man short for large parts of the match due to injury and no substitutions.

More recently, Hunslet reached the Challenge Plate Final in 1997 after defeating Widnes at Naughton Park 18-19. Scoring a try and three goals that day was Craig Booth, whose son Noah will be hoping to be in the present-day squad for Sunday after impressing with two full-length tries in the first two Championship League games of the season against Barrow and Bradford Bulls respectively.

Speaking of the Bradford Bulls game where Hunslet came from 0-22 down after 20 minutes to lose the game 20-38, Head Coach Dean Muir showed where the attitude of the Club was at

“Yes, we responded well on Sunday. But let’s be clear, we are not happy with losing. We go out in every game to win, so we can’t be pleased with the 80 minutes. You can get away with playing well for 40 minutes in League 1, but not in the Championship. So, even though we got plaudits for our response, we are really disappointed.”

This week’s opposition Widnes, have started 2025 well and Muir is well aware of that

“Every Allan Coleman team I’ve seen likes to play. They are physical, direct with two good halves and big middles. It’s a huge test. We have to connect from edge to middle. Past Widnes sides may have had a soft underbelly, but not this team. But as usual, we train hard, focus and go about our business.”

The treatment table is still busy with Keelan Foster, Cam Berry, Matty Fletcher, Liam Carr, Brad Clavering and now Kobe Rugless injured after picking up a broken hand on Sunday.

This means Hunslet have Zach Fishwick on loan for another week from Hull KR and Thomas Deakin on Dual-Reg from Huddersfield.

Muir praised both players: “Zach adds a lot of value to the squad. The lads get on with him and I thought, especially his second spell against Bradford, was very good.”

Deakin, who plays Hooker, was born in Oldham. But immigrated to Australia and was brought up in the Sydney Roosters Juniors set up. “I’m delighted to get Tom. He’s a good footballer and is quick round the ruck.” Missing Berry and Rugless it’s a real chance for Deakin to show what he can do and hopefully can become as big a fan favourite as his Giants team-mate George Flanagan.

Tickets for Sunday can be purchased here

Squad