Sorry: Brad Foster on bench not Brad Thompson.

Given we haven't seen some players yet (what is up with Baldwinson) I'd probably pick the ones that have figured in the friendlies. England comes into the side if he's fit but if not I'd I'd pick Green as sub and put Thompson at loose forward. Dunning reckons Lawrence will be ok for Sunday but I'd play him off the bench. I'd go with Lawford over Patton as Lawford is better for the team. Roby on the bench instead of Flanagan snr as he's hopefully better disciplined. No space for Flanagan Jnr as he's not ready for 1st team yet IMO.

Walker
Blackmore
Arundal
Gill
DFJ
Holmes
Lawford
Foster
Lilley
Thompson
Wallace
Butler
England

JJ
Roby
Rogers/Green
Lawrence

Depending on fitness, I'd go with:
Walker
Blackmore
Arundel
Gill
DFJ
Holmes
Lawford
Lawrence
Lilley
Baldwinson
England
Wallace
Butler
---
Thompson
Foster
Johnson
Flanagan Sr

I feel that MD will probably give Patton the starting spot in the halves ahead of Lawford.

I'm expecting a blistering 30 min spell where we put 24 points on them followed by 50 mins of cue-on-the-rackery seeing us lose 24-25.

That way I won't be shocked when I get home...

"cue on the rackery" is hopefully now eradicated under the new Dunning discipline. We shall see. I saw Gill doing press ups after dropping the ball in the warm up and the fine for Flanagan jnr for his petulance during the game are signs that the half assed ways of the recent past may be behind us. We shall see when the real season starts. Looking at the Haven messageboard they seem quite optimistic and seem to have had a good pre season. We'll be in for a tough game no doubt but I fancy us to win by 10. https://www.havenfans.co.uk/index.php

"cue on the rackery" is hopefully now eradicated under the new Dunning discipline. We shall see. I saw Gill doing press ups after dropping the ball in the warm up and the fine for Flanagan jnr for his petulance during the game are signs that the half assed ways of the recent past may be behind us. We shall see when the real season starts. Looking at the Haven messageboard they seem quite optimistic and seem to have had a good pre season. We'll be in for a tough game no doubt but I fancy us to win by 10. https://www.havenfans.co.uk/index.php

Congrats to the Bulls media team, going big this week on pushing for a 7500 opening crowd for the Championship!
Note crowd & social media engagement are 2 of the reported IMG criteria

Don't open that can of worms! There's already some sections of our rival supporters foaming, rabidly, over our apparent pre-ordained shoe-in back in to Super League.

You honestly have to wonder if these people have anything up stairs. 'iTs discusTinG!!! tHeY aRe a SHambuls!!!' They'll believe anything.

Bloody RFL pets and all that...

Good to see us trying to promote this game but it seems a bit late notice. If the aim is to get 7.5k then you'd be plugging it for weeks and not with 6 days to go?

They were pushing the 7500 figure as a record crowd (hoping to beat Leigh) for the opening weekend despite the actual record being 8800 and held by Hull KR.!! Another cock up by the social media/marketing team. To make things worse the 8800 crowd was a game we played in!
New season same old s**t from the club. The club web site has now been amended following them being shot down on social media. Amature hour from the back office staff yet again.

If you’re gonna have a go, at least spell amateur correctly. Silly mistake but I admire them actually giving things a go

Its an internet forum not an A level English exam. The odd typo doesnt really matter does it.

Nothing wrong with giving it a go. But if your going to do something do it right. Instead of it being seen as a good marketing push to get a big crowd, its just made us a laughing stock again. Oh and we need an extra 1300 people though the gates now to break the record that the club hadnt previously accounted for. Not a chance we get close to 9000 on Sunday.

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?