SQUAD & LEAGUE PREVIEW

Captain Liam Welham is excited by what he has seen of the Midlands Hurricanes 2022 squad as the team prepare to get their new era in Betfred League One underway on Sunday.

The Hurricanes open the campaign with a trip to last year's beaten play-off finalists Doncaster, followed by relegated Swinton Lions visiting the new home at Portway on Sunday, April 3.

Both fixtures will provide good tests for Richard Squires' new-look squad early in the year and Hurricanes captain Welham, now in his third season with the club, is impressed by what the newcomers have shown in pre-season.

“A good 80 percent of our squad are new faces - young, fresh, England international at university level talent,” Welham said.

“In terms of frame and body structure, they've got all the accolades and, along with Richard and his coaching staff, it's just putting all of that together on the pitch.

“A lot of the boys travel, and a lot of them do travel two to four hours, so they've committed well in the off-season and I'm happy with where we're standing at the moment.

“We're in good shape for our first league fixture against Doncaster.”

The Hurricanes have already enjoyed one competitive outing this year, pushing Betfred Championship side Rochdale Hornets hard before going down 36-16 at the Crown Oil Arena in the Betfred Challenge Cup second-round tie at the end  of January which was streamed live by the BBC.

Squires is now looking forward to seeing his team in League One action when they travel to the Eco-Power Stadium for the season-opener and has seen enough to be confident the Hurricanes can mix it with the division's top sides.

“I'm excited,” Squires said. “It's been a long pre-season and a tough slog, so the players get the reward of playing in a competitive fixture in the league. We look in a good place and everyone is excited to get going.

“I think consistency let us down last year. Instead of setting a target of where we want to be, it's just about being consistent within ourselves. We've got a big squad, so there can be a nice bit of rotation there if needs be.

“We're looking stronger than we did last year and we feel we can get there or thereabouts against the top teams, but again, we've just got to focus on ourselves.”

21 MAN SQUAD FOR SUNDAYS MATCH CAN BE FOUND HERE