Mick Piper Praises Eagles’ Progress Ahead of Swinton Cup Clash
Sheffield Eagles assistant coach Mick Piper said earlier this week that he is proud of how his side is coming together and that they are ready for the challenges ahead this Sunday against Swinton Lions in the 1895 Cup.
The Eagles will be facing Swinton Lions in the preliminary round of the 1895 Cup this Sunday (3 pm KO), with the winner getting the chance to face Rochdale Hornets in the 1st round of the competition. Sheffield is no stranger to the Cup; in recent years, they were runners-up in 2024 and winners in 2019.
Swinton Lions are a new addition to the Betfred Championship for this season, following their merger with League One. Although the Eagles and Lions will not be facing each other in their League campaigns, Mick Piper is happy that his side ended up with them as opponents in this crucial Cup tie. Commenting on both Swinton and the chance to play in the 1895 cup, Mick stated, “It's a great competition, and we’re really excited to play it.
“We’re really chuffed that we’ve got Swinton, we’re excited to play them, they’re a great club steeped in history, and we’ll approach it like we’ve approached every game so far this season.
“We are going to focus on ourselves, we are trying to build and continue to move forward, and that won’t change, so we’re really excited about the weekend.”
The Eagles' last outing was a Championship fixture against Rochdale, in which they secured a strong 20-44-point win. As with every victory a team succeeds in claiming, there is still always room for improvement, something Mick reiterated when he said, “We had a plan in place, and in the majority of the game we stopped it really well.
“It was just those couple of times in the game where we’re going off script a little bit, and the concentration lapses. But we’ve reviewed it, and there were only a couple of easy fixes, so we’re really pleased where we are at the moment.”
During last year's postseason, the Eagles focused on bringing in strong, competitive talent to move the side forward from last season’s unfortunate form, something that has begun to pay off with a strong start to this campaign. Mick remarked, “We’re a new group. Craig has mentioned this before, but we’ve got plenty of new players in here, and we’ve got to find those connections.
“I think we’re doing a good job of it. If we said at this point in the season that we’d be four from four, and slowly building and getting better and better every week, then we’d have taken that 100%.”
Swinton will be a strong challenge for the South Yorkshire side. With a chance of progression in the cup, and another competition to showcase their talent in after being kicked out of the Challenge Cup by Warrington Wolves earlier this season, all eyes will be on the Eagles for this fixture.
Mick, along with head coach Craig Lingard, has been preparing for this tie since its announcement and is ready to put their plans into action. Speaking on their preparation, Mick said, “We’ve done a little bit of digging into them, we’ve looked at what they've played so far, we’ve looked at some of their players, their shapes and systems. But as I said, we’re just looking for one or two tweaks, really.
“The main focus for us this week is on ourselves. We want to focus on building on what we’ve been doing in the pre-season. So we’re very aware of who they are and where their threats lie, but the focus is definitely on us.”
Additionally, he commented that, “We'll do that by taking this game exactly as we’ve taken the first four: we’re going to focus on ourselves this week, and we’re going to continue building on the connections and on what we’re looking to do as a team.
“We’re going to treat this as the next game and focus on it, whether it’s in the cup or the league, to help us continue to grow as a team this year.”