Lingard wary of Hunslet threat despite Eagles’ strong start

During a press conference earlier this week that was arranged by Sheffield Eagles and the University of Sheffield, in which journalism students got to gain experience in the sports media industry and practise their interviewing skills, Craig took the chance to speak about his side ahead of their away fixture against Hunslet this weekend (Sunday, 3 pm KO).

Hunslet managed their first win of the season last weekend against Rochdale, accomplishing a 6-42 point victory, bringing them a crucial 2 points in the early stages of this campaign.

Commenting on how his Leeds-based opponents will be motivated by this win, and the players that have been making the difference for them so far, Craig said, “It's always good for a team to get its first win; it improves the team’s confidence.

“They've recruited recently as well, brought Charlie Graham in from Halifax, and brought 2 in on loan last week from Doncaster, Bureta Faraimo and Isaac Misky. Bureta had a massive impact, scoring 5 tries on his debut, so he's someone we are definitely going to have to pay attention to.

“It will form part of our preview; we won't know if they're available or if Doncaster has called them back until we see the squads, but we will prep as if they are gonna play. But they'll be massively confident after a really good victory against Rochdale, who were previously 3 from 3 in the league.”

The Eagles also found success in their fixture last weekend, with a strong 22-6 win against Barrow Raiders, who were leading the league table up until their loss.

With two wins in a row so far in their Championship campaign, the South Yorkshire side is definitely in form, but Craig still sees opportunities for change within his side.

He remarked that, “To get that victory against Barrow last week was massive, they were sat at the top of the table, they've played 3 and won 3 in the league, only conceding 1 try and scoring 108 points.

“They've been an established top-end championship side for several years now, their squad is pretty much the same year on year, very few changes. So, a lot of their really important key positions, the pivots at half-back, full-back, 9 and 13, there's been no change in them. When you have a transitioning squad, and you get key people coming into key positions, it takes a little bit of time for the team to gel. We're still in that period at the minute, so for us to get that victory over the top of the table in only our second game of the season, it was massive.

“And there are still lots of areas for us to improve, and we're still learning together as a new squad, so it was nice to go into training last night and give them a pretty negative review, really. It's nice to give a negative review when you've won, because there are still lots of areas where we're miles off where we need to be, but it's nice as head coach to be able to give that negative feedback.”

Hunslet is a side with a large depth of experience within its players, which provides dangers that Craig is preparing his side to face.

Speaking on the threat that Hunslet’s team could bring into their game, Craig stated that, “Hunslet, particularly at the minute, they've got Lee Gaskell, who plays in half-back. He’s a really significant player due to the experience he's had through Super League.

“He has played a lot of top-end Super League games, and he's the key for them. Everything that they do on Sunday with the ball comes through him. They like to take a lot through the short side, which sometimes you can rest defensively on the short side and think the ball is going to be going away from you, and if we do that this week, he is going to find us.

“Obviously, Bureta Faraimo on the wing if he's available for them again, I worked with him at Castleford previously, he's an international player thats played a lot of Super League games. Eddie Battye, who played at Sheffield for several seasons, has transferred over, and he will be the link between the middle units and the half-backs as well.

“So there are some pretty decent threats that we need to handle, and if we can handle these threats, we will take a lot of their dangers away.”

The Eagles have gone into the vast majority of their games so far this campaign with a mostly unchanged squad, something which will be expected to stay consistent this weekend too.

Commenting on whether there will be changes within his squad for this Sunday’s fixture, Craig said, “We've come through unscathed from last week, a couple of bumps and bruises, which you generally get in a contact sport like rugby league.

“But, I’m massive on keeping the squad as consistent as possible. If people are playing well, I like to reward them by keeping their positions rather than chopping and changing. It's difficult at the start of the season, some of our players have not had the game time as yet, and the difficulty for them is that if they are called upon, they've not played a lot of games, and it's difficult for them to come in and hit the ground running.

“So with some of those players, you look at trying to get them out on loan and get some game time. But we've potentially got Jack Bussey coming back and fit this week. He trained last night, but he has a little bit of contact work to do to see if he's comfortable with that. But I think everybody else has come through alright, so there'll be minimal changes, if any.”

Coming off a great win against a side that is at the top of the table, and then going into a fixture against Hunslet, who perhaps haven’t been as successful so far, Craig still doesn’t want his team to be switched off, and he understands the pressure for his side to maintain their current form.

Regarding how his team needs to be mentally going into this weekend’s fixture, Craig explained, “I think the pressure on us this week is making sure that we back up our performances so far this season.

“I think we managed to get ourselves up for the game against Barrow last weekend, because we know it was going to be tough and physical. They were 3 out of 3, so I think the players were expecting that tough competition.

“So the messages that we've been giving to players this week are that there is no point beating the top of the league and then going to Hunslet this week and losing that game, so we need to be as focused and as switched on and respect the dangers that Hunslet have got.”