Sat 31st Jan-Sun 1st Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[League Express]

Sat 31st Jan-Sun 1st Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

Discuss all this weekend's games here.

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Barrow Raiders v Salford KO 18:00

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams v Keighley Cougars KO 14:00
Midlands Hurricanes v Doncaster KO 14:00
Halifax Panthers v Batley Bulldogs KO 15:00
London Broncos v Oldham KO 15:00
Rochdale Hornets v Workington Town KO 15:00
Swinton Lions v Goole Vikings KO 15:00
Whitehaven v Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00
Widnes Vikings v North Wales Crusaders KO 15:00

[Bring back GB]

1 hour ago, League Express said:

Sat 31st Jan-Sun 1st Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

Discuss all this weekend's games here.

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Barrow Raiders v Salford KO 18:00

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams v Keighley Cougars KO 14:00
Midlands Hurricanes v Doncaster KO 14:00
Halifax Panthers v Batley Bulldogs KO 15:00
London Broncos v Oldham KO 15:00
Rochdale Hornets v Workington Town KO 15:00
Swinton Lions v Goole Vikings KO 15:00
Whitehaven v Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00
Widnes Vikings v North Wales Crusaders KO 15:00

Barrow 

Dewsbury 

Doncaster 

Halifax 

London 

Rochdale 

Goole

Newcastle 

Widnes

 

 

[Expatknight]

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Barrow Raiders v Salford KO 18:00 by 12

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams v Keighley Cougars KO 14:00 by 12
Midlands Hurricanes v Doncaster KO 14:00  by 18
Halifax Panthers v Batley Bulldogs KO 15:00  by 10
London Broncos v Oldham KO 15:00  by 24
Rochdale Hornets v Workington Town KO 15:00 by 4
Swinton Lions v Goole Vikings KO 15:00 by 8
Whitehaven v Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00  by 10
Widnes Vikings v KO 15:00  by 4

[Simon Hall]

Barrow Raiders 52 v Salford 12

Dewsbury Rams 6 v Keighley Cougars 24
Midlands Hurricanes 16 v Doncaster 36
Halifax Panthers 24 v Batley Bulldogs 8
London Broncos 46 v Oldham 16
Rochdale Hornets 24 v Workington Town 18
Swinton Lions 12 v Goole Vikings 32
Whitehaven 1 v Newcastle Thunder 145
Widnes Vikings 38 v North Wales Crusaders 18

[Dovster]

Barrow by 40

Cougars by 8

Dons by 18

Fax by 14

Broncos by 10

Hornets by 6

Lions by 6

Thunder Knights by 14

Vikings by 6

[Luke HKR]

Barrow by 28

Keighley by 10 

Doncaster by 14

Halifax by 10

London by 20

Rochdale by 4.

Swinton by 6.

Newcastle by 8

Widnes by 12

[Thunder fan]

Barrow

Keighley

Doncaster

Halifax 

London

Rochdale

Swinton

Thunder

Widnes

[Thunder fan]

Come on thunder!

[Rene_Artois]

Thank you all for your faith in the Dons. I would love an 18 point win, or indeed any win.

[fearnowt]

Quietly confident for Sunday, I think it will be close.

Funny thing is that Widnes is closer to home than a home game. Eirias Park is 47 miles from Wrexham on the supporters bus, but only 31 miles to the DCBL stadium. In fact, I think I'm right in saying that the last time we travelled to Widnes was for a "home" game against Dewsbury three years ago.

Anyway, good to get the league season started.

[Rene_Artois]

2 hours ago, Thunder fan said:

Come on thunder!

I'd be very surprised if Thunder don't win.

[Havenfan10]

5 hours ago, League Express said:

Sat 31st Jan-Sun 1st Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

Discuss all this weekend's games here.

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Barrow Raiders 44-10 Salford KO 18:00

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams 28-16 Keighley Cougars KO 14:00
Midlands Hurricanes 14-18 Doncaster KO 14:00
Halifax Panthers 36- 20 Batley Bulldogs KO 15:00
London Broncos 26-6 Oldham KO 15:00
Rochdale Hornets 20-0 Workington Town KO 15:00
Swinton Lions 18-14 Goole Vikings KO 15:00
Whitehaven 16-12 Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00
Widnes Vikings 28-16 North Wales Crusaders KO 15:00

 

[JonM]

14 hours ago, fearnowt said:

Quietly confident for Sunday, I think it will be close.

Funny thing is that Widnes is closer to home than a home game. Eirias Park is 47 miles from Wrexham on the supporters bus, but only 31 miles to the DCBL stadium.

Expecting a close one too. There's quite a few ex-Widnes players in the NWC squad, and the same the other way round. Funny to have our two "local" fixtures (London & North Wales) as the opening games of the season.

[Wakefield Ram]

18 hours ago, Simon Hall said:

Barrow Raiders 52 v Salford 12

Dewsbury Rams 6 v Keighley Cougars 24
Midlands Hurricanes 16 v Doncaster 36
Halifax Panthers 24 v Batley Bulldogs 8
London Broncos 46 v Oldham 16
Rochdale Hornets 24 v Workington Town 18
Swinton Lions 12 v Goole Vikings 32
Whitehaven 1 v Newcastle Thunder 145
Widnes Vikings 38 v North Wales Crusaders 18

Think Whitehaven won't get a drop goal

[Widnes1989]

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Barrow Raiders v Salford KO 18:00

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams v Keighley Cougars KO 14:00
Midlands Hurricanes v Doncaster KO 14:00
Halifax Panthers v Batley Bulldogs KO 15:00
London Broncos v Oldham KO 15:00
Rochdale Hornets v Workington Town KO 15:00
Swinton Lions v Goole Vikings KO 15:00
Whitehaven v Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00
Widnes Vikings v North Wales Crusaders KO 15:00

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Given all that's happened with rearranging etc etc I'll wait a couple of weeks for things to settle down before giving my (usually wrong) predictions.

[Angelus]

Barrow by 24

 

Dewsbury by 8

Doncaster by 22

Halifax by 18

London by 20

Rochdale by 6

Goole by 4

Newcastle by 16

Widnes by 16

[FearNothing]

On 29/01/2026 at 13:03, League Express said:

Sat 31st Jan-Sun 1st Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

Discuss all this weekend's games here.

SATURDAY 31st JANUARY
Barrow Raiders v Salford KO 18:00 salford

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams v Keighley Cougars KO 14:00 rams

Midlands Hurricanes v Doncaster KO 14:00 donny

Halifax Panthers v Batley Bulldogs KO 15:00 fax

London Broncos v Oldham KO 15:00 possibly the closest to call, but broncos

 

Rochdale Hornets v Workington Town KO 15:00 worky

 

Swinton Lions v Goole Vikings KO 15:00 lions

Whitehaven v Newcastle Thunder KO 15:00 close, thunder

Widnes Vikings v North Wales Crusaders KO 15:00 Cru, obviously

With not much to go on except one (incomplete due to byes and such) round of league and cup it's still a bit early for any hope of accuracy

[Phil W]

Three games In and we've been in Birmingham, Doncaster and this weekend I'll be in Whitehaven. Some injuries in the Thunder camp but Geordie, Tyler Walton has signed on and is named in the squad. Here's my preview https://www.philworld.co.uk/post/match-preview-whitehaven-v-newcastle-thunder

[Moominman]

Newcastle have five players in their named 19 'on loan' from York.

Who knows who'll be playing for them next week.

Makes a mockery of the competition, when you can't be bothered to sign and field a squad of your own players for the 2nd league game of the season...it's hardly like they've had time to rack up a spate of injuries already...

Edited January 30 by Moominman

[Phil W]

17 minutes ago, Moominman said:

Newcastle have five players in their named 19 'on loan' from York.

Who knows who'll be playing for them next week.

Makes a mockery of the competition, when you can't be bothered to sign and field a squad of your own players for the 2nd league game of the season...it's hardly like they've had time to rack up a spate of injuries already...

There's consistency in the loan players we're selecting. 

This week we've announced Newcastle Lightning will be playing in the Yorkshire Premier Division. This is a pathway for north east players. Tyler Walton, one of our own has also signed up this week and is named in the squad tomorrow. 

Quite a bit to be positive about really! 

[Expatknight]

3 minutes ago, Moominman said:

Newcastle have five players in their named 19 'on loan' from York.

Who knows who'll be playing for them next week.

Makes a mockery of the competition, when you can't be bothered to sign and field a squad of your own players for the 2nd league game of the season...it's hardly like they've had time to rack up a spate of injuries already...

How many times does it need to be said Newcastle registered players are Newcastle players, yes they have some loanees as do the majority of Championship clubs, not a day goes by without one or another being announced, even this early in the season, I don’t see any criticism of them, but then hypocrisy is part and parcel of a Rugby League , unfortunately.

I cannot believe the negativity on here from certain people , what would you prefer ? Would you prefer a team that can’t compete and gets hammered every week, because that is really great for the game isn’t it, or for that club to disappear, again really great or is it you just can’t deal with someone doing something new and trying to improve a situation in an area that just might succeed. Obviously we can’t have that can we.

what is being put in place in the North East isn’t perfect at the moment, but it is a damn site better than what was happening and in time will produce a pathway for the untapped talent up there. There has to be a starting point and hopefully, before too long Newcastle will be able to be a stand alone club, with home produced players, playing at a good standard in the Championship. Surely that is something to applaud not deride. 

[gogledd]

Barrow Raiders

SUNDAY 1st FEBRUARY
Dewsbury Rams

Doncaster
Halifax Panthers
London Broncos 
Rochdale Hornets
Swinton Lions
Whitehaven
 and North Wales Crusaders obviously!

[JonT]

33 minutes ago, Moominman said:

Newcastle have five players in their named 19 'on loan' from York.

Who knows who'll be playing for them next week.

Makes a mockery of the competition, when you can't be bothered to sign and field a squad of your own players for the 2nd league game of the season...it's hardly like they've had time to rack up a spate of injuries already...

Not sure it's a case of 'can't be bothered' but more a case of planned growth. 

Or do you just want Newcastle to have exactly the same season as last year?

[Gav Wilson]

43 minutes ago, Moominman said:

Newcastle have five players in their named 19 'on loan' from York.

Who knows who'll be playing for them next week.

Makes a mockery of the competition, when you can't be bothered to sign and field a squad of your own players for the 2nd league game of the season...it's hardly like they've had time to rack up a spate of injuries already...

Just say that you have no idea whats going on.