Whitehaven are ready for their double header with Sheffield Eagles to open their season.
They host the Eagles on Sunday in the new-style Championship and then the following Saturday travel to Sheffield for a second round tie in the Challenge Cup.
Coach Anthony Murray has no doubt about the challenge posed by the new competition but believes Whitehaven are ready and capable of tackling it head on.
Sheffield will pose a tough start, though, and Murray acknowledged that they have strengthened well “down the spine of the side.”
The 21 named shows just one change from the squad that was announced ahead of the Town game – Josh Blinkhorn comes in for Joe Lowe.
It is: Bailey, Bickerdike, Blinkhorn, Brennan, Brown, Burns, Eccleston, Holgate, Holliday, Kellett, McQuistan, Newbegin, Nixon, Pearce, Shackley, Thomson, Todd, Turnbull, Walker-Taylor, Walker, Weatherill.
Sheffield coach Craig Lingard has named his 21-man squad and it includes a total of eight new signings who could all make their competitive debuts for the club on Sunday.
The squad is: Marsh, Brown, Hodson, Gill, Walkley, Morgan, Lilley, Fitzsimmons, Johnson, Reilly, Bower, Farrell, Bussey, Butterworth, Griffin, Broadbent, Bowes, Peachey, Millar, Matongo, Foster.
