Head coach Lee Greenwood is expecting a tough test this weekend as his side will face up against the Bradford Bulls in the latest Betfred Championship fixture.
Both sides got through their Challenge Cup tie’s with the Bulls slipping past Keighley to make it to the next round of the competition, meanwhile the Rams defeated West Hull.
Now though it is back to league action and Dewsbury boss Greenwood understand’s that winning at Bradford will be no simple task.
He said: “I think we will see a very revved up outfit at the weekend as John (Kear) was not happy with his teams last performance. I have seen some of his comments and he certainly wasn’t happy with what his side served up at the weekend. They will have had a rocket up them from John.
“I have had those same rockets when I played under him which seems years and years ago now, so they will be revved up no doubt about it, and so there won’t be any surprises.
“We know we can go either way, get a performance like we gave at Halifax where we didn’t really compete, or we can turn up with a performance like we did against Featherstone where we got a great result. So the challenge that has been told to our players is what sort of team do you want to be. We should be confident in what we have done so far this season, and we know that if we turn up for each other then we’ll produce some good stuff.
“Going off of their results so far then yes they are beatable, they aren’t a squad totally full of full time players but they have recruited well and spent a lot of money in the process. They have some good old heads in there playing with some very good young lads, Bradford have the youth set up a bit like Super League teams do so that is an added bonus for them. That gives them a conveyor belt of talent which can then go and play at League 1 level after playing in their reserve side. So they have a huge squad and John can make a few changes this week, not because of the sake of it but because he has quality to chose from.”
The Rams have won the last two games in all competition and will be going into the Bulls game with confidence, Greenwood believes the Featherstone result in particular was a big moment in the season so far.
He commented: “I think its more about belief really, it doesn’t matter how well you play, if you lose it will knock your confidence slightly, and with the amount of times that happened it does make you question whether you are doing things the right way. When you’re having good performances and getting so close but not getting over that line it does make you doubt everything.
“That result at Featherstone gives everyone belief, if you turn up with the right attitude and prepare right and then turn up for each other and help one another through those sticky patches, we know we have got players that can hurt teams.”
Finally Greenwood gave an update on injuries: “We have a few injuries to be honest and we also have Paul (Sykes) who is suspended for this week out too. Rob Worrincy is struggling and it doesn’t look like Tom Garratt is going to return any time soon. Kyle Trout and Michael Knowles missed last weekend through injury so I wouldn’t say we are doing it tough but you could say there are few first teamer’s not on the park. However it does mean that some players will now get a chance to show what they can do and to try and keep the shirt.”
