Kyle Trout and his coaching team have prepared their squad for this Sunday’s upcoming clash with Newcastle Thunder (April 12th 3pm).
Hunslet are hoping to put in a good performance in front of the home fans and get a much-needed home victory, but this is no walk in the park against a Newcastle side that has much improved in recent seasons.
Trout commented “Newcastle have had players on loan from York this season, but there’s no way we can predict who’ll play. They are a different team to last year anyway, even if they have no loanee’s. We know Jude Ferreira and Joe Law from their time with us, and they have a good pair of half-backs who are fast and sharp around the ruck. But to be honest, I’m always more focused on us. We can score tries, but we need to work on defence, focus our effort and be hard to break down.”
Last week’s win at Keighley helped, although in the first half it was a very open game, Hunslet controlled the second half and deserved to win.
“It was a good win for the group. We did it tough and found a way to win which sharpens us up for further challenges. We inflicted pain on ourselves early on, giving Keighley a start which we can’t do this week, but we scored some good tries, ball in hand and some well earnt tries close in. We elected not to kick a penalty late on as we felt we’d score and Harrison Gilmore came up with the goods.”
Hunslet have taken 4 loan players from Leeds Rhino’s. Ben Littlewood and Tom Nicholson-Watton have both appeared for Hunslet this year and have impressed, whilst Joe Butterfield and Ned McCormack make their debuts.
“With Keelan Foster and Kevin Larroyer out long term, and HIA (Head Injury Assessment) breaks for Zak Lloyd, Eli Simpson and Darcy Simpson we have had to again bring in numbers through loans. Will Kirby and Joe Phillips were called back by Hull, but we have Ben and Tom from Leeds who know the group and played well at Widnes, and we have Joe for a month. It’s not ideal for consistency but gives us options. We were offered more players, but we see partnerships in our group like Lee and Myles and don’t want to alter that. Also, Liam Carr did enough last week to earn his place. I want to put our players first.”
Also, on loan from Doncaster comes Jordan Baldwinson. The former Hunslet junior has family links to the Club and is looking forward to pulling on the Myrtle, White and Flame, and could make a big difference to Hunslet’s go forward.
Slight doubts this week are Ethan O’Hanlon, who is likely to feature, and Jaden Barraclough. The Hunslet ARLFC trialist tweaked a hamstring at Keighley and is likely to return to play for the community club.
Hunslet are still in the market for players as they concentrate on climbing the League. A run of games against last year’s League 1 teams may make their position look healthier in a few months and, with additions and players returning, Hunslet may be a force to be reckoned with.
“This week is about putting in a good home performance. We’ll go at Newcastle guns blazing for the win. There’s a good feeling around the group and, with our support behind us, we can start to climb the table.”
Hunslet are running an initiative where any Juniors (free entry) who attend in their community club playing shirt (any sport) the accompanying adult can gain entry to the game for only £5. Tickets can be purchased from the Club office.
Squad
