Newsome Panthers’ head coach Richie Hawkyard has told his players to keep their feet on the ground ahead of a difficult trip to Westgate Common on Saturday (April 15).
The Panthers sit at the top of the league but face the team who won the Grand Final in the Yorkshire Men’s Amateur Rugby League Premier Division last season.
So far the Panthers have won all three games albeit one by way of forfeit when Almondbury Spartans could not raise a team. With those wins, it means Newsome sit top of the league on six points with a positive points difference of 45. They face Westgate who are yet to play a fixture with both of their first two games being postponed.
On Saturday’s match Hawkyard said: “We are looking forward to playing Westgate. They are a good side and came second in the league last year, but won the Grand Final, so we know they have quality. We’ll have to play at our best to beat them.”
The Panthers have defeated well known amateur side Siddal and last season’s league winners Doncaster Bar in their two games this campaign and Hawkyard has been pleased overall.
He said: “The lads are slowly realising that you have to play well in this league to get a result, you can’t just turn up. It isn’t like when we were in Division Two and you could win without playing well. In this league you have to be on it all the time.
“We have played well in the first two performances but we know we can play better. We started well against Doncaster but let them back into it and if you do that more often than not you lose. Overall we are happy to get the wins but we know we can play better.”
Kick-off at Westgate is 2.30pm.
