Having watched both our trial games and noting the generally upbeat feel about the place, I am going with a 14-10 loss and a crowd of just over 3k.

I'm mildly optimistic that we will improve on last year but let's not get carried away with ourselves. There is still some gaps in the squad and we will be reliant on Leeds to pad the squad out when injuries hit.

I'll admit I'm very much a fair weather supporter nowadays and to be honest visiting Odsal in Feb after an expensive winter isn't high on my to-do list. I assume the club must be confident of a high percentage of the free kids tickets being used. I'd be very surprised if some folk aren't also waiting to see whether genuine changes in attitude and style of rugby have occurred before shelling out.

Conceeding from a looping pass intercepted by Whitehaven winger with 2 minutes on the clock.

In all seriousness, I understand the club have worked hard to engage with local schools and handed out a lot of free season tickets to kids. This is to be applauded in terms of trying to grow the supporter base.

But does that mean we face a season of social media ridicule when we announce crowds of 6 or 7k when there will quite likely be nowhere near that many in the ground?

Well they have suggested 15,000 free kids season tickets have been given out.

A lot of clubs count season ticket holders regardless of whether they turn up or not. I look forward to 18,500 being announced on Sunday… I might get there earlier so I don’t lose my regular standing spot.

Going for a record crowd in January at Odsal is certainly a bold move. At the moment the forecast doesn't look so bad but we all know about the micro-climate.

Dunning is now saying it's likely Lawrence will play which is good news. No sign of Appo's visa yet. The word "phoenix" keeps springing to mind for some reason

Don't worry, I've taken many pinches of salt in the last 10+ years.

If we're expecting a big crowd on Sunday I hope the club will open a few more turnstiles than they usually do. It's really frustrating to turn up to massive queues and only 2 turnstiles open. That's a great way to p*ss people off before the season has even started.

I was just going to enter pedant mode too!

Yes, I have since seen the 15k figure - I had 5k in my head for some reason. Well it remains to be seen how many actually use the ticket but I would guess the majority won't. So to count those would be farcical.

I did actually ask this of the club when I got my season ticket this morning. They can only count those season tickets who’ve booked on, apparently that figure is around 2000 from the 15000

2000 season tickets after all the poop over the last ten years is still some feat. Looking forward to freezing mi thruppennies off on Sunday. First time in ages I've looked forward to the opening game!

Don't forget your floor wipes and kitchen roll if you are in the stands! Don't want those shiny new white jerseys stained red so soon...

I've been to the last two home games against Haven and came away either disgusted or dejected both times. So I'm afraid I won't be coming to this one. They are entitled to think they've got us sussed out, but I sincerely hope a cultural change will see us send them back home with nowt this time.