Dewsbury Rams v Newcastle Thunder and League 1 preview

After yet another week off which is becoming a big frustration amongst League 1 fans, League 1 is back again this weekend for Easter.

Rams v Thunder

Good Friday sees Newcastle Thunder head down to FLAIR Stadium to take on Dewsbury. Dewsbury who were relegated from The Championship last season currently sit in fifth place in League 1 having won three and lost two games. They've picked up wins against Swinton, Keighley and Goole with losses to North Wales and last time out a heavy defeat down at Midlands. For Thunder fans there's a couple of familiar faces as Dan Coates is named in the squad to face Thunder. An even more familiar face is Jamie Gill who has featured for Thunder this season and has been sent to Dewsbury on dual registration from Bradford this week. To me this is one of the flaws of the dual registration system, in my opinion a player should be sent to a club and can only then move onto another club if they're going up a league. To be playing for one team one week and another the next is a bit of a farce.

The irony of this fixture is during the week there was some comments from Dewsbury following their defeat to Midlands about the difference in budgets. Well this week it's the opposite for them as Thunder visit with a reduced budget on Dewsbury.

At the time of writing Thunder are yet to name their squad but hopefully a week off after the big defeat to Whitehaven has given Chris Thorman time with this young squad to work on what he feels they need to. It's a big couple of weeks coming up for Thunder with a home game against Goole Vikings followed by Magic Friday at home to Workington Town. Thorman will look to see improvements in performance following the defeat at Whitehaven, with this young group it's about small percentages of improvement. Squad wise, obviously Jamie Gill isn't with Thunder this week. We'll see if there's anyone from Hunslet or Bradford to add some depth to this very young squad.

I fully expect Dewsbury to take this one, from a Thunder perspective as ever I want to see them stay in the game for as long as possible. Also to try and cut out some of the errors from the Whitehaven game.

Other League 1 action

As well as Dewsbury v Newcastle, Good Friday sees three further fixtures.

Rochdale take on Swinton in a derby battle, after their good season last season I think Rochdale will be disappointed to be won two, lost two from four games (their result against Cornwall being void). They'll want to win on Friday otherwise a gap could start to appear. For Swinton, they'll be happier sat in third with a few changes in the squad in the off season. I can see this being a battle but think Rochdale could just edge it at home.

There's a huge derby in West Cumbria with fierce rivals Workington taking on Whitehaven. There's a big crowd expected in what's hopefully a great occasion for rugby league in Cumbria. This will be everything you want in a derby with the crowd fully invested. I'll probably contradict myself here, but form goes out the window in these kind of games. Ultimately though, I expect Whitehaven sat in third to take the victory but make no mistakes Workington will be well up for this!

Finally on Good Friday there's a really intriguing battle in West Yorkshire where two teams yet to taste victory in the league this season meet, Keighley take on Goole Vikings at Cougar Park. Neither team has been far from victory to the frustration of both clubs. I know I say it every week but I think Keighley will take this one. But I expect Goole to turn up and try and frustrate them and get them into a bit of an arm wrestle.

Easter Saturday sees a cracker in the midlands with Hurricanes taking on North Wales Crusaders. Both teams are undefeated in the league this season with Midlands sitting top with four wins and a draw and North Wales in fourth with three wins from three games. This will be a cracker and given my predictions are normally wrong, I'm going to say Hurricanes will edge it at home.

Bring on the weekend of rugby league!