Thatto Heath Crusaders may have lost out to North Wales Crusaders in the Betfred Challenge Cup last weekend, but they won a lot of hearts with their committed performance, losing out by just eight points against one of League One's more fancied teams.
"Honestly, I'm so proud of the lads. I mean, they just kept going at it." Head coach Mike Woods said, "And If we cut the penalties out and little errors, which North Wales were just waiting for, they fed on the back of that, it would have been even closer. But yeah, shout-out there for the lads. I mean, Jamie Tracey did 80 minutes at prop. He pulled up last week with a hamstring injury, he's probably not fully fit and he's gone against some big, big boys. I thought there was effort. It was unbelievable. A big shout to Dan McGahan as well, he was the winger who went to fullback when Ryan Wood got hurt in the first few minutes. I thought his carries were good but overall, yeah it's an effort. People talked about it before the game, about winning it and I said yeah it's good that and we wanted to win it, but for me, it's more about preparation for the season. I think we can take big positives into next week against Kells. That's a massive thing for me."
Woods admitted to being disappointed with the way Thatto finished last season and said preseason had been one of hard work and effort.
"I'll be honest with you, this preseason it was tough this year. There was no let up. Every session was hard I think after last season, just to lose how we did. I know we played on the Wednesday and then the Saturday in the playoffs, but I just don't think we were quite ready last year."
"I think we had the mentality of, get in the playoffs, we'll win it, and I don't like that."
He continued, "I think you have to go full-on each week. So pre-season has been hard. We've lost a couple of players, like Lewis Foster, and Matty Norton. They are big losses, but Sean Kenny's back, Connor Dwyer's fully on it, and then you've got Rhys Sumner who's come in, and Ryan Wood from the Under-18s. So we're in a bit of a transition, but not much, if you know what I mean."
"Last week we were poor against West Hull. We had Dave Pike missing, and so on, but that's no excuse. We needed something out of this for next week and I think we're not far off now."
"As a coach, now what you don't want, is we run professional opposition close and turn up this week and think it's going to be a walkover. So we'll know by about five o'clock on Saturday, if it's helped us or if we've fallen in love with ourselves a little bit. But I don't think they will."
"In this division, you've got to perform every week. I think the league this year will be a strong one. I think you could video a National Conference game every week and get enjoyment out of it. For me I love the Premier Division, it's the bread and butter of the game."
Five other Premier Division clashes take place on Saturday with Impact Performance National Conference League action getting underway at Wigan St Judes on Thursday night when they host Waterhead Warriors in Division Two.
Here is the fixture list in full for the weekend:
Thurs 16 Mar 2023
Division Two
- Wigan St Judes v Waterhead Warriors
Sat 18 Mar 2023
Premier Division
- Hull Dockers v York Acorn
- Hunslet ARLFC v Leigh Miners Rangers
- Lock Lane v Wath Brow Hornets
- Rochdale Mayfield v Siddal
- Thatto Heath Crusaders v Kells
- Wigan St Patricks v West Hull
Division One
- Skirlaugh v Thornhill Trojans
- Stanningley v Heworth
- West Bowling v Clock Face Miners
- Oulton Raiders v Egremont Rangers
Division Two
- Barrow Island v Saddleworth Rangers
- Dewsbury Celtic v Shaw Cross Sharks
- Myton Warriors v Milford
- Normanton Knights v Dewsbury Moor Maroons
- Woolston Rovers v East Leeds
Division Three
- Drighlington v Beverley
- Bentley v Leigh East
- Oldham St Annes v Millom
- Hensingham v Eastmoor Dragons
By Dave Parkinson
