CATALANS DRAGONS coach Joel Tomkins has urged his star NRL signings to embrace facing Batley Bulldogs on the famous Mount Pleasant slope.
The likes of ex-Canterbury Bulldogs stand-off Toby Sexton, former Wests Tigers centre Solomona Faataape and NRL Grand Final winner Charlie Staines could feature in Sunday’s Betfred Challenge Cup third round tie at one of the Championship’s grittiest venues.
It’s a far cry from Sydney’s beaches and Tomkins admitted: “I played there once.
“I was on loan at Widnes when I was 18 and it was my first game for them.
“It was a bit of an eye-opener.
“But I’m interested to see our new recruits handle it, especially those who have come over from Australia.
“We’ll lean into it. It’s kind of what the Challenge Cup is about, isn’t it? That’s the tradition of it.
“Big clubs go and play at traditional grounds like that.
“Hopefully it’s a hostile atmosphere and an experience for some of these guys.
“Toby Sexton, for example, he’ll probably never experience this again.
“He’s going back to the NRL next year and will be playing in big 50,000-seater stadiums most weeks.
“It’ll be an experience that he probably won’t forget, so we’ll lean into that and try and get the boys to embrace it and take it for what it is.”
Tomkins expects to name a near full-strength squad although he won’t take any unnecessary risks given the travel involved and their opening Super League game being against Huddersfield the following Friday.
He said: “It’s not just a case of a five-day turnaround for us. It’s a five-day turnaround with 16 to 20 hours travel over three days.
“We will definitely be playing a strong team.
“If there are a couple of boys who might struggle with a five-day turnaround, we might not play them.
“But on the whole, we’ll be going as strong as we can because we’ll be expected to go there and get a win, the same as all the Super League clubs will be in this round.
“But we also understand that there are potential banana skins here.
“For the Batley boys, this will be an opportunity for them to get a scalp, so we have to go there with the right attitude.”