Newcastle Thunder v Dewsbury Rams and the rest of League 1 preview

In a week which has left League 1 clubs with more questions than answers it'll probably be a bit of welcome relief for supporters to have some rugby to watch.

Questions remain on what will it look like below Super League, will it be a combined Championship split into two conferences? If that happens then what's the point in the play-offs? It risks injury for no real reason. The other big thing is the talk of scrapping Magic Weekend for a nines festival, this is something I'd be massively against. League 1 fans quite rightly want to know what's going on at our level and you can sense the clear frustration of the current situation. I believe there's due to be a meeting this week with Championship and League 1 clubs, so hopefully we may get some news. On all this I look forward to the promised fan survey to be able to give feedback.

There are rumours that more might become clear next week.

Newcastle Thunder v Dewsbury Rams

The champagne might be on ice at Blaydon before Thunder's promotion party can begin if the above happens. There has been some promising news from Thunder during the week with the benefits of the York partnership starting to show. On Sunday 24th August York Valkyrie will play Wigan Warriors in a Betfred Women's Super League game at Blaydon in a 13:00 kick off. This will be followed by Newcastle Thunder v Whitehaven at 16:00, it'll be a great day of rugby league on Tyneside.

There has been some noticeable improvement to match day for Thunder in recent weeks with community rugby becoming part of game day. This weekend sees three Scotland age group teams taking on Thunder linked age group sides with kicks off at 11:30, 12:45 and 17:15, if you can support this please do.

Dewsbury head to Tyneside on the back of a week off but prior to this they had an excellent home victory over an in form Swinton side. They sit fifth in the League 1 table but only two points behind Midlands in fourth. I'm fully expecting another physical work out for Thunder this afternoon. In Dewsbury's squad is Jamie Gill on dual registration from Bradford Bulls who spent some time with Thunder earlier in the season.

Newcastle have named their squad and include Jacob Gannon a forward from York, Brad Ward from York and Castleford duo Daniel Sarbah who had some nice touches last week and young forward Woody Walker. This afternoon will be another tough work out for Thunder but it's important to remember that we're on this journey and to continue to get behind the team. At times last week with a bit more composure there was opportunities missed in attack for Thunder, some of that could've been to do with the amount of effort being put into the defensive effort.

Hopefully today Thunder can get through their sets and take a bit of pressure off themselves as at times last week it meant more physical effort was having to be put into back to back defensive efforts. To their credit, led by Tyler Walton we know that this young group won't take a backwards step and there's no lack of effort.

For the first time in a while I can see some idea of where the club is wanting to go and some of the improvements are starting to show in terms of the York partnership.

Kick off is 15:00, get down and get behind this young group.

North Wales Crusaders v Swinton Lions

This game of the League 1 day sees Swinton heading to North Wales looking to do the double over their hosts. They take on the table topping Crusaders, both sides won last weekend with Crusaders very comfortable at Newcastle while Swinton had an excellent win at home to Midlands. I expect North Wales to win this one, I saw first hand how powerful this Crusaders outfit are last weekend but Swinton will turn up and make things very difficult for them.

Rochdale Hornets v Whitehaven

Rochdale should win comfortably here to keep the pressure on those above them. This Whitehaven side's form has completely gone and Rochdale isn't somewhere you want to go when you're low on confidence. Rochdale on the other hand put a strong message out at Goole last week demolishing the Vikings, I expect similar this weekend and continued pressure on those above them.

Workington Town v Keighley Cougars

I'm going to go for another home win here which could see Workington climb up to second in the league depending on results elsewhere. Keighley won last time out at home to Whitehaven but to their frustration are massively inconsistent this season, they have the talent in the squad but for whatever reason it's just not gone right for them this season. They're a dangerous team to play though and could still have a big say in who makes the play-offs.