North Wales v Newcastle Thunder

Newcastle Thunder are back this weekend and make the trip to Colwyn Bay to take on North Wales. After another break last week, it's good to have rugby league back!

The opposition

North Wales are having a really good season but will be looking to get back to winning ways after a 26-20 loss at Swinton last time out. But a win for them will take them up to the top of a very competitive League 1. Carl Forster has built a strong squad with a lot of experience including Pat Ah Van, Ant Walker and former Thunder man Josh Eaves.

We saw up at Blaydon how their big runners caused problems and Chris Thorman and his team will know exactly what to expect tomorrow afternoon. It goes without saying that North Wales will be red hot favourites for this one.

Thunder

There's been a huge boost for Newcastle Thunder this week with the signing of former Cornwall player David Weetman who has previously played at Thunder. This is an excellent signing for Thunder bring in experience and leadership. With the added bonus that he's from the area so from a fans point of view, he gets it.

It's good to see Tyler Walton back in the squad this week, Jamie Gill is back on dual registration from Bradford as he's sent to Thunder this week. For what it's worth and I've said it before it can't be good for a young player being developed to be sent out to different clubs each week. Lewis Hagan joins Gill on dual registration from Bradford too this week.

Thoughts

As I say most week, we'll be looking for small improvements week on week. There was disappointment following the Workington Town game where their big runners and experience caused problems.

North Wales will be very similar to Workington, but with some changes for Thunder the squad looks a little stronger. Ultimately though I expect North Wales to win fairly comfortably given how results have gone this season.