MATCH PREVIEW: MIDLANDS HURRICANES V WHITEHAVEN RLFC (BETFRED LEAGUE ONE ROUND TEN)
The Alexander Stadium
Canes host Haven for the second time in 2025
As we enter the second May Day Bank Holiday of 2025, Head Coach Mark Dunning and his men will host Whitehaven at The Alexander Stadium in our eighth Betfred One League game of the season. Midlands will go into this game full of confidence after our historic 10-22 away victory over Rochdale Hornets at The Crown Oil Arena, with the lads producing a professional and impressive 80-minute performance which pleased the coaches no end.
Before Midlands and Whitehaven take to the field, Women’s Head Coach Jamie-Lee Jones and Captains Alex Stock and Heather Britton will take charge of our first ever Women In League Open Day at The Alexander Stadium, with a mixture of new and familiar faces engaging in a training session between 11am and 1pm. With the Canes first ever Women’s Midlands Championship campaign starting in a matter of weeks, we are keen to encourage as many women in the area to give the greatest sport in the world a try and potentially form part of a team that has already achieved some fantastic things in its inaugural year.
Turning to the men’s team once again, the Canes go into this game third in the table with 11 points from a possible 14, only behind second placed Workington Town on points difference and one point behind league leaders North Wales Crusaders. In terms of form, the Canes are currently enjoying an unbeaten spell away from the Alex, with victories over Goole (14-16), Keighley (24-26), Newcastle (6-54) and the aforementioned victory over Rochdale. At home the Canes opening home game saw them draw 16-16 with Workington, followed by a comprehensive 42-12 win over Dewsbury Rams and our only league defeat of the season to date at the hands of North Wales (18-31).
In terms of team selection, Mark Dunning has released a largely unchanged 21-man squad from the side that went on to beat Rochdale. The only change has seen Captain Callum McLelland - returning to the squad for the first time in a while following an injury suffered in training - replacing young half-back/hooker Ethan Newboult. Fans will no doubt be excited to potentially see McLelland back on the field, however he has some fierce competition from the recent half-back pairing of Jake Sweeting and Sully Medforth.
Turning to our opponents, this will be the second time Whitehaven have made the long trip down from Cumbria to Birmingham after the two sides met during the pre-season in their 1895 Cup First Preliminary Round clash at The Alex. A dominant Canes performance saw us emerge 52-24 winners over Whitehaven, however both Mark and the lads will be well aware that our opponents on Sunday will be much changed and eager to right the wrongs of that first ever defeat to Midlands earlier in the year. Whilst this season is very much the beginnings of a complete rebuild for the visitors, they will undoubtedly be pushing for a place in the 2025 Super 8s and immediate promotion back to the Championship.
In terms of league performance, Whitehaven currently sit in fifth place with 9 points from a possible 16 and tomorrow’s game officially taking them to the half-way point of their season. The visitors are currently unbeaten at home, with wins over Keighley (20 -4), Rochdale (24-20), Newcastle (66-6) and Goole (42-24) as well as a 24-24 draw with Dewsbury Rams. They are, however, yet to pick up a win away from in the league after their 78-6 demolition of Cornwall was expunged following the Choughs withdrawal, tasting defeat at Swinton (16-10), Workington (10-8) and North Wales (42-12).
As part of our community day event, prices across all categories have been slashed for this fixture, with no price rise for on the day purchases. The ticket prices for tomorrow are:
£10 Adults (Down from £15)
£8 Concessions (O65/17-21) (Down from £12)
£5 Student (Down from £12)
U16s go FREE (Down from £1)
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)
4 - Ross Oakes (Sponsored by Geoff and Maureen Hammond)
6 - Jake Sweeting (Sponsored by In Memory of Robert and Stephen Sweeting)
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)
13 - Mikey Wood (Sponsored by MG Electrical Contractors Ltd)
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)
00 - Joe Hartley (Available to Sponsor)
Whitehaven RLFC
Max Anderson-Moore
Ethan Bickerdike
Josh Blinkhorn
Brad Brennan
Cameron Brown
Clarke Chambers
Luke Collins
Tom Farren
Karl Garner
Ellison Holgate
Connor Holliday
Jack Kellett
Mason Lewthwaite
Jack Newbegin
Ellis Nixon
Jake Pearce
Daniel Spencer-Tonks
Mitchell Todd
Kieran Tyrer
Jay Weatherill
Rio Wilson-McQuistan
#DARETODREAM