BATLEY BULLDOGS gained their first win of the season in Round 5 with a comprehensive 54-6 defeat of Swinton Lions and they will be hoping to register a second win against another club that was in League 1 last year in North Wales Crusaders.
The Crusaders come into the game with two wins from four, but they conceded 106 points last Sunday against London Broncos, even though Greg Eden scored a hat-trick of tries. Their coach Dean Muir will be hoping their confidence hasn’t been shattered by that experience and he only makes one change to his 21-man squad, with Anthony Walker dropping out and London Broncos loanee Huw Worthington coming into his squad.
The Bulldogs coach James Ford makes three changes to his squad, with Luke Cooper, who recently announced his retirement, dropping out and loanees Luca Atkinson and Will Oakes returning to their parent clubs. They are replaced by Jack Hudson, Jay Scriven and Castleford loanee Akim Metvejev.
SQUADS
Crusaders: 1 Lloyd Roby, 3 Jayden Hatton, 4 Jake Spedding, 5 Luke Forber, 6 Declan Patton, 7 Jordan Gibson, 9 Josh Eaves, 10 Chris Barratt, 11 Brad England, 12 Cole Oakley, 13 Pat Moran, 14 Joe Baldwin, 16 Mark Ioane, 17 Ashton Robinson, 18 Junior Westwood, 20 Thomas Bridge, 22 Jake Nottingham, 23 Greg Eden, 25 Danny Addy, 26 Pat Ah Van, Huw Worthington
Outs: 8 Anthony Walker,
Ins: Huw Worthington
Bulldogs: 1 Robbie Butterworth, 2 Joe Burton, 3 Ollie Greensmith, 4 Wesley Bruines, 6 Ben Reynolds, 7 Josh Woods, 9 Alistair Leak, 11 Dane Manning, 13 Robson Stevens, 14 Ben White, 15 Nyle Flynn, 16 Michael Ward, 17 Liam Kirk, 18 Evan Hodgson, 19 Jonah Parsons, 20 Jack Hudson, 22 Felix Ellis, 23 Jay Scriven, 24 Akim Metvejev, 26 Derrell Olpherts, 27 Ronan Dixon,
Outs: 10 Luke Cooper, 21 Luca Atkinson, 33 Will Oakes
Ins: 20 Jack Hudson, 23 Jay Scriven, 24 Akim Metvejev
Referee: Matthew Lynn
STATS
All previous meetings:
Batley 55, North Wales 12 (ChR16, 22/6/14)
North Wales 14, Batley 26 (ChR6, 30/3/14)
(at Racecourse Ground, Wrexham)
Batley 30, Celtic Crusaders 22 (NL1R13, 22/7/08)
Celtic Crusaders 56, Batley 28 (NL1R8, 31/5/08)
(at Brewery Field, Bridgend)
PAT MORAN needs one appearance to reach 150 for his career.
– 6 for North Wales Crusaders (2026)
– 48 for Oldham (2023-2025)
– 5 for Featherstone Rovers (2025, loan)
- 39 for Rochdale Hornets (2017-2019, loan/dual-registration, 2022, loan, 2025, loan)
– 14 for Newcastle Thunder (2022)
– 12 for London Broncos (2021)
– 7 for Widnes Vikings (2020)
– 2 for Warrington Wolves (2018-2019)
– 12 for Sheffield Eagles (2019, loan)
- 4 for Ireland (2019, 2024-2025)