MIDLANDS HURRICANES coach Mark Dunning might have guided his side to a club-record points haul – but there will be no letting up as he looks to “sharpen the pencil” and make an impression in the Championship play-offs.
The former Bradford coach, who has been at the Hurricanes helm since May 2023 and has overseen a steady improvement on the pitch to go with developments off it, watched his side reach 25 points by beating Workington 30-24 on Sunday.
That previous best tally for the club, which first played in the professional ranks as Coventry Bears in 2015 and relocated to Birmingham and rebranded as Midlands for 2022, was last year’s 19.
Midlands complete their regular-season schedule with games at Doncaster (this Sunday) and Newcastle, then at home to North Wales at Avery Fields, the Edgbaston ground to where Midlands moved on a long-term lease ahead of this season.
Securing a top-ten finish is the top priority, but Dunning pointed out: “We want to not just make sure we reach the play-offs, but then go into them with some decent form behind us.
“There are tough games for us still to get through, but it’s an exciting prospect, and after producing some good wins this season, we want to sharpen the pencil and put ourselves in the best position we can to have a real crack.”
The Championship play-offs, expanded from six teams following the merger with League One, start on the weekend of September 5/6.
The top two in the final table sit out the first of the four stages before the final, which is likely to be on Sunday, October 4.
Teams finishing between seventh and tenth face elimination ties in stage one, with Midlands currently eighth.