Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood is expecting a tough test on Sunday as the Leigh Centurions visit the Tetley’s Stadium in the latest Betfred Championship fixture.
Greenwood insists that with the form that Leigh are in and the side they can put out they will be a formidable opponent. However he also believes that when the Rams can put their full team out they can also be very hard to beat.
On the upcoming game he said: “I would like to think that if we can get our own house in order we can give anyone a game here, we have shown that at times.
“The way they have turned the team around from last season so quickly and get such a good side out. They have improved it as they have gone along too and recruited really well and for me on the form they are in and the team they can put out it could potentially cause some upsets in the playoffs, I think they are that strong at the moment.
“This will be a very tough test, they have beaten Bradford and Halifax comfortably recently and beat us on Easter Monday, and had people out injured too then. They have dual-reged with Saints really well too, they have brought in good people and not just kids so they will take some stopping not just from us but by anyone.
“I am similar to the fans that if I know the team has put in a real dig and given them a fright and put in 100% effort then we can’t ask anymore of them. If we do that then I think we can go into Sunday and stick right in there until the end and have a chance of winning too.
“It is disappointing when I am having to watch defeats of course it is, but I do know that with everyone available and when we can put our strongest team out we can take some beating.”
Greenwood would like to see the Rams turn the Tetley’s stadium into a fortress and believes they haven’t been hard enough to beat on their home turf this year.
He commented: “I have been a bit disappointed by a few of the efforts here namely Halifax and Toulouse. We didn’t perform in either of those games really and that was disappointing as I would like to think that we would always be very tough to beat at home. That has always been the way before I got here, over the years if I had seen a scoreline where Dewsbury had been beaten at home comfortably then it did raise questions and eyebrows. With a couple of the performances we have put in at home I don’t like them, so let’s hope we can put up a good defensive display and try to win this one.
“It is our territory and our ground, but it hasn’t been a fortress this year, it has been more like a sand castle at times. We haven’t been tough enough to beat at home, we’ve either had big scores put on us or come close in games but not got over the line. I would say we haven’t beaten anyone at home that we weren’t expected to beat anyway, so I would like to think over the course of the year we’d beat at least one team at home that we aren’t expected to beat. We have got a few of those games to come, and it’d be crazy for people to think that Leigh shouldn’t come here and beat us.
“There has been an inconsistency here for a few years and I’m the head coach and I am saying that and so that is a bit difficult. However I do know the potential is in that team and when we have everyone available it will take some beating.
“I wouldn’t say I am surprised about what has happened this season, I see the lads in training and I saw them in pre-season so I knew what I was getting myself into. At the start I knew where the weaknesses were and we were playing catch up. There aren’t too many surprises that have happened. Whilst I know that our squad is big on numbers, if you look at the actual championship experienced and proven players there is very little, so as soon as we lose those bodies it drops down to some lads who haven’t played a lot at this level.
“Let us see how we go on Sunday, I am hopeful we can get a strong team out as we’ll have a lot of lads coming back into the side that didn’t go to Toronto and we can have a dig at Leigh. There is no new injury news to report on, there is no one missing that isn’t available for selection.”
