MATCH PREVIEW: MIDLANDS HURRICANES V SWINTON LIONS (BETFRED LEAGUE ONE ROUND ELEVEN)
The Alexander Stadium
Canes look to tame Lions as season campaign reaches half-way
As we approach the half-way stage of the 2025 Betfred League One season, the Canes can look back at their current efforts and be proud of producing their best league campaign to date. With six wins and a draw from their opening eight fixtures, the Canes are only three wins away from obtaining their best ever points tally (which was achieved last year with nine wins from a possible 20). They could earn the first of those three wins tomorrow as we host Swinton Lions at The Alex.
Sunday’s fixture against Swinton Lions sees us return to home comforts for consecutive weeks after almost a month since our home defeat to North Wales Crusaders. Head Coach Mark Dunning will be hoping his side can produce the sort of performances that have earned them 10-22 wins over Rochdale Hornets and an impressive 38-8 win over Whitehaven at The Alex, the latter seeing Midlands put 26 unanswered points on the visitors in a second-half that saw the Canes play the majority with only one recognised half-back and two interchanges. However, Mark and the boys acknowledged in their post-match interviews that this weekends opponents represent an unknown entity, being the only side the club has yet to face this season.
Focusing on the 21-man squad released on Friday, Mark has made a few changes to reflect the injuries sustained to both Jake Sweeting and Mikey Wood during the win over Whitehaven. Whilst most of the squad remains unchanged, Sweeting, Wood and recent signing Joe Hartley have been replaced by Ryan Johnson and Ethan Newboult return to the line-up, as well as player-coach Chris Cullimore who could be set to make his first appearance since scoring a try against Keighley Cougars in our 1895 Cup Second Preliminary Round fixture in mid-February.
Turning to our opponents, Paul Wood’s Swinton Lions may feel unfortunate to even be in League One this season after a shocking end to their 2024 Championship campaign. The Lions finished 12th with nine wins from a possible 26, finishing above 13th placed and automatically relegated Whitehaven on points difference and only a point behind 11th placed Barrow Raiders. In previous seasons this would have secured Swinton Championship rugby for another year, however the re-aligning of the three divisions saw Swinton thrown into a relegation play-off with eventual play-off winners Hunslet. Despite leading Hunslet for most of the game at Heywood Road, a last-minute Jack Render score in the corner broke Swinton hearts and consigned them to League One just two seasons after securing promotion in 2022.
In terms of their League One performance so far, Swinton started strongly with a 16-10 home win over Whitehaven and a 6-48 away victory over winless Newcastle Thunder. A 10-26 home loss to Dewsbury Rams saw their momentum temporarily stumble, however this was followed by a 30-28 home win over Goole Vikings and a last-minute 14-18 win over Keighley Cougars. A low-scoring 8-7 away loss to local rivals Rochdale Hornets and a 32-12 away loss to Workington Town may have suggested, however their last match (just under a month ago) saw them end North Wales Crusaders unbeaten start to the season with an impressive 26-20 win.
In terms of head-to-head, Swinton Lions and the Canes have only met three times previously with the Lions emerging victorious on each occasion. The Lions put then-Coventry Bears to the sword in the latters’ inaugural Betfred League One season with a 78-8 victory at the Butts Park Arena, before beating them twice in the Hurricanes’ 2022 season with a 16-54 win at Portway and 54-22 at Heywood Road. Swinton are now the only current League One side that the Hurricanes have not previously beaten, so Mark and his men will no doubt we looking to make history at The Alexander Stadium on Sunday.
Today is your last chance to save money on ticket prices for tomorrow’s fixture, with prices to rise by £2 (£1 for U16s) for those paying on the gate tomorrow. Advanced ticket prices are:
£15 Adults
£12 Concessions (O65/17-21)
£7 Student
£1 U16
Tickets can be purchased HERE. We hope to see as many fans as possible to cheer on the Canes as they aim for a third consecutive Betfred League One win and enter the half-way point of the season with 15 points!
21-Man Squads:
Midlands Hurricanes (brought to you by www.enjoytravel.com)
1 - Todd Horner (Sponsored by Yorkshire Ceiling Services)
2 - Matty Chrimes (Sponsored by Lowry Recruitment)
3 - Ryan Johnson (Sponsored by Hull Wyke RL)
4 - Ross Oakes (Sponsored by Geoff and Maureen Hammond)
7 - Callum McLelland (Available to Sponsor)
8 - Jon-Luke Kirby (C) (Sponsored by EJ Interiors Ltd)
9 - Danny Barcoe (Sponsored by St Katherine’s Carpets)
11 - Tom Wilkinson (Sponsored by JW Visual)
12 - Josh Jordan-Roberts (Sponsored by 39 Steps Consulting)
14 - Aiden Roden (Sponsored by Enjoy Travel Group)
15 - Aaron Willis (Available to Sponsor)
16 - Ellis Hobson (Sponsored by GLLEE UK Ltd)
17 - Kieran Moran (Sponsored by Longbridge Taiho Jutsu)
18 - Zeus Silk (Sponsored by This is Warrior)
19 - Marcus Green (Available to Sponsor)
20 - Elliott Morris (Sponsored by GLR Energy Ltd)
21 - Sullivan Medforth (Sponsored by Ideal Building Systems)
24 - Matty Hanley (Sponsored by JGE Wholesale)
25 - Luis Roberts (Sponsored by Crypto Construction)
26 - Ethan Newboult (Sponsored by Leeds Rugby Club)
32 - Chris Cullimore (Sponsored by Autex Acoustics)
Swinton Lions RLFC
1 - Louie Roberts
2 - Ellis Anderson
5 - Harry Higham
6 - Jack Stevens
8 - Adam Sidlow
9 - George Roby
10 - Bobby Shingler
11 - Gav Rodden
13 - Kenny Baker
14 - Jordan Paga
15 - Jordan Brown
18 - Tommy Porter
19 - Dan Abram
20 - Jamie Reddecliff
22 - Aaron Lynch
23 - Danny Lynch
25 - Frank Sergent
31 - Will Roberts
33 - Alfie Sinclair
34 - Konrad Hurrell
36 - Jake Davies
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