Betfred League One makes its long-awaited return this weekend, as nine teams look to compete for the two places on offer in the Betfred Championship!
There are some new faces in the third tier for 2024 – both Keighley Cougars and Newcastle Thunder will be adapting to the League One life once more. And the competition will kick off with four enticing matches on Sunday - North Wales Crusaders will have to wait another week to kick-start their campaign, as they have a bye week.
Hunslet are at home for Round 1 and will play hosts to Newcastle Thunder. The two sides haven’t met since 2019, but when they did it was Newcastle who triumphed 12-26 on Hunslet’s home patch.
Hunslet however, enjoyed a strong regular league season last year – but were unable to capitalise towards the back end of the year. They finished second in the table, and narrowly missed out on automatic promotion, before losing out in the Play-Offs to Doncaster.
With all to play for in 2024, Hunslet will be hoping to right any wrongs of last year, as they go searching for a desired Championship spot. And Hunslet’s scrum-half Matty Beharrell needs just two goals to reach 500 for his career and could be set to achieve this on Sunday when he makes his return to the West Yorkshire side.
Thunder, on the other hand, have been boosted by two dual-registration agreements with Championship heavyweights York Knights and Super League's Castleford Tigers ahead of the 2024 season, which will give them the opportunity to have a good calibre of players at their disposal – and help them to compete in League One.
Meanwhile, Keighley Cougars will entertain expansion side Cornwall, as the Cougars look to bounce straight back to the Championship. The West Yorkshire side have fluctuated between the second and third tier in recent years, although history shows that Keighley are more than capable of achieving promotion – 2022 saw the club win all 20 of their league fixtures to secure automatic promotion – this being only the third time in Rugby League’s history where a side has achieved a 100% record.
Milestones could also be broken on Sunday, as Cougars’ Adam Ryder, Josh Lynam and Nathan Conroy need just one appearance to reach 150 – and Jack Miller needs five points to reach an impressive 1,000 for his career, 700+ of those being at Keighley.
Cornwall will also be hoping for a better season in 2024, having finished in ninth place in 2023 and have been preparing well in the off-season.
It’s a home opener for Midlands Hurricanes, and they recently announced the news that their home fixtures will be played inside the main stadium arena at Alexander Stadium – a great opportunity for the club to grow the game of Rugby League within the region. Previously, the Hurricanes had played on the stadium's Community Pitch within the warm up infield, but history will be made on Sunday when the club welcomes Rochdale Hornets – and it’s set to be a memorable match.
Their last five meetings have been extremely close encounters and there was little to separate the sides in the league standings last year, although it is the Hornets who have won their last seven matches.
Finally, there’s a blockbuster clash between Workington Town and Oldham over in Cumbria – two sides who are predicted to compete at the top once more in 2024.
Oldham, under the guidance of new head coach Sean Long, have already shown they mean business this year – beating current cup holders Halifax in the 1895 Cup group stages, before going on to knock Barrow Raiders out of Round 3’s Challenge Cup. They have recruited the likes of Craig Kopczak, Joe Wardle and Jordan Turner - all recognisable faces from their previous spells in Super League - who will join up with a squad already littered with experience. Long has outlined ambitious visions for his side and their future and they will look to get off to a perfect start in Round 1.
Likewise, Workington will be working on improving their fifth place finish last year – and are seeking their first home win against Oldham since a 23-12 Championship victory in 2016. Oldham have won all three meetings in Cumbria between the sides since then – could this all be set to change on Sunday?
Betfred League One Round 1 fixtures (Sunday 17 March):
Hunslet RLFC v Newcastle Thunder
Keighley Cougars v Cornwall RLFC
Midlands Hurricanes v Rochdale Hornets
Workington Town v Oldham RLFC
North Wales Crusaders (bye)
A Betfred Championship Round 1 Preview can be found here.
The Betfred Championship and Betfred League One competitions make their long-awaited returns this weekend - the full fixture lists can be found here.
