Swinton Lions v Newcastle Thunder preview

Sunday afternoon sees Newcastle Thunder looking to return to winning ways as they travel to Heywood Road to take on Swinton Lions.

After two consecutive home defeats, Thunder take on a Swinton side who sit second bottom of The Betfred Championship.

Swinton re-build

Swinton have lost all five of their league games this season. In rounds 1 and 2 they were very close to victory against Rochdale and Goole. The three recent games have seen them take on North Wales, London and Batley, losing all three by a bigger margin. Out of those games possibly last week's 54-6 defeat at Batley will be the most disappointing for the Swinton faithful.

As a club, Swinton went through a re-build last season and have continued with a relatively young squad this season. They can call on the experience of powerhouse prop Samy Kibula who makes his first appearance in a Swinton match day squad since signing and Gav Rodden captains the side. When the sides met last season, Swinton won 6-48 and 52-10. Swinton finished League 1 in third place last season which given their re-build was a really good season for them.

Like many clubs from League 1 last season, the merge into The Championship has caused its challenges but they'll be looking to build a platform in front of the Swinton faithful on Sunday afternoon.

Thunder look to get back to winning ways

For Thunder, who are unbeaten away in the league this season having won at Midlands and Whitehaven who have both since taken scalps at home since. Sunday brings a chance to get back to winning ways. Although the attack has functioned well and Thunder sit as the fifth highest scorers in the league averaging just over thirty two point per game in the league, they may look to have sharpened things up as there will no doubt be some frustration that there were points left out there in the first half against a well drilled Crusaders defence. I genuinely think we are yet to see the best of this Thunder attack, there just needs to be a bit more composure and patience. When this attack fully clicks, Thunder fans will be in for a treat.

Defensively is where the improvement will be looked for, on average Thunder are conceding twenty one points per game in the league. Some of the focus may have been around cutting the error count down, as the pressure from conceding penalties and conceding six again repeatedly does take its toll over the course of the game.

The encouraging thing from the North Wales game was they came back with some fight at the end and scored late on, they did look more dangerous when they got away from the arm wrestle and went wide. I also thought that Will Roberts kicked intelligently, especially in the first half. Roberts kicking game was well used on a soft surface at Whitehaven, I expect it to be crucial on what could be a soft surface on Sunday afternoon. The Thunder kicking game has been well used to put the attacking side on the back foot and give them no momentum on the first tackle.

Graham Steadman has named his squad and is able to call on the exciting prospect that is John Sagaga who looked powerful on his Thunder debut at Midlands before picking up an injury during the game. Sam Cook is also named in a Thunder squad for the first time this season following an injury, Cook brings with him experience and adaptability as he can play loose forward and hooker. He also scored five tries in seven games for York having arrived in June. Noah Whittingham is named in the squad having recently been named in The Championship team of the month for February. The work of Whittingham, Harvey Reynolds and Matty Foster has probably gone a bit under the radar this season, but they'll all be looking to continue their fine form into this weekend having been named in the squad.

Myles Harrison and Ryan Jackson both aren't included in the Thunder squad for this weekend, having had impressive games against North Wales. Harrison's Thunder form earned him a call up to the York squad for the Hull game, although he didn't make the match day squad and Jackson has carried impressively during his loan spell from York.

The good thing about The Championship is beyond London, anyone can beat anyone. It's such a competitive league that if a team puts together a winning run they can push themselves into the play-off spots. That's exactly what Thunder will look to

Squads and officials:

Swinton Lions: 1. Louie Roberts, 2. Connor Parkinson, 4. Aaron Lynch, 5. Harry Higham, 8. Samy Kibula, 9. George Roby, 10. Ben Killan, 11. Gav Rodden, 12. Aaron Willis, 15. Jamie Reddecliff, 17. Trent-Kelly Duffy, 18. Bobby Shingler, 20. Adam Jones, 21. Tom Ratchford, 26. Charlie McCurrie, 27. Lucas Coan, 31. Finlay Irwin, 33. Alfie Sinclair, Deacon Connolly (loan), Jack Purtill (loan), Luca Walsh (loan).

Newcastle Thunder: 2. Andy Djeukessi, 3. Joe Law, 5. Brad Ward, 6. Cody Hunter, 7. Will Roberts (loan), 9. Taylor Pemberton, 11. Harvey Reynolds, 12. Noah Whittingham, 13. Sam Cook, 15. Brenden Santi, 16. Leo Tennison, 18. Ukuma Ta'ai, 19. Jack Brown, 22. John Sagaga (loan), 24. Matty Foster (loan), 25. Jack Smith (loan), 27. Jordan Lipp (loan), 28. Tyler Walton, 29. Sean Croston, 30. Tom Inman.

Referee: A. Belafonte

Reserve Referee: A. Marsh

Touch Judge 1: L. O'brien

Touch Judge 2: S. Quarmby

Time Keeper: A. Mills

Venue: Heywood Road

Kick off: 15:00

Championship fixtures this weekend

Dewsbury Rams v Barrow Raiders (away win)

Doncaster v Goole Vikings (home win)

Halifax Panthers v London Broncos (away win)

North Wales Crusaders v Batley (home win)

Rochdale Hornets v Sheffield Eagles (away win)

Swinton Lions v Newcastle Thunder (away win)

Whitehaven v Midlands Hurricanes (away win)

Widnes Vikings v Hunslet (home win)

Workington Town v Salford (home win)