3 Jan 2020

PREVIEW: Rochdale Hornets v Widnes Vikings

The first match preview of 2020 as the Hornets face the Vikings.

 

A new year, and a new era has arrived for the Rochdale Hornets as they get their pre-season preparations underway against Widnes Vikings.

Matt Calland has assembled a squad that will carry the ethos of the club going into the future, retaining some of the best players from 2019, as well as adding a pool of talent from the amatuer game. 

For Sunday’s visitors Widnes Vikings, they will be looking to test out a number of new recruits and players on trial.

Former Hull KR, Wests Tigers and Australia coach Tim Sheens will take charge of the Vikings in 2020, who will look to push in the Championship. 

HEAD TO HEAD

The last time the two sides met was in the Betfred Championship at the Halton Stadium with the Vikings coming away 40-12 victors. Callum Marriot and Kevin Brown both got on the scoresheet for the Hornets in what was a positive display despite the scoreline.

The two sides have met a total of 38 times with Rochdale’s last victory coming in 1971 with Hornets coming away 6-5 winners at the old Athletic Grounds stadium.

TEAM NEWS

There are currently 13 trialists at the club, with Calland excited with the prospects. 

"We have plenty of talented players on trial this Sunday who I and the fans should be looking forward to seeing," he said.

"We have retained some of our best players from 2019 and we as a club are not afraid to look into the community game and sign some of the best talent for 2020.

"Hopefully the fans can back all the players that put on a Rochdale shirt this pre-season."

Contracted players: Seta Tala, Luke Fowden, James Connaughton, Callum Marriott, Shaun Ainscough, Sean Penkywicz, Adam Carr, Andy Lea, Lewis Sheridan, Dec Sheridan, Jordan Syme, Ryan Bradbury, Sean Mulcahy, Callum Ogden, Adam Hesketh, Ben Calland, Sam Freeman, Liam Whalley.

On trial: Ben Forster, Joe Hartley, Guilherme De Sousa, Liam Aspin, Alex Gannon, Padraig Anglin, Dan Nixon, Matt Whitehead, Ryan Dalton, Adam Jackson, Wayne Bannister, Munyaradzi Sumanyanga, Connor Parkinson.

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