Batley Bulldogs aim to defy the odds once again as rugby league’s Championship returns

Batley Bulldogs head coach Craig Lingard is assured his membership can proceed their behavior of beating the odds when the new Betfred Championship season kicks off this weekend.

Lingard led the Bulldogs inside 80 minutes of an unbelievable Super League place final 12 months after a shocking 32-28 win over Featherstone Rovers of their play-off semi-final at Post Office Road.

And regardless of the typical exodus of massive names and one among the smallest budgets in the division, the long-serving Lingard expects one other assault on the higher reaches to begin with their first sport at London Broncos on Sunday.

“Externally the expectations are the same as usual,” Lingard informed the PA information company. “The bookies have written us off and nobody really expects us to be anywhere near the top of the table again.

“Our budget is reduced compared to last year but we’ve got players who have played in a Grand Final and they will have the belief and desire to want to experience that again.”

The looming IMG-led shake-up of the sport has satisfied a variety of Batley’s Championship rivals that now’s the time to push in the direction of securing a spot in the top-flight.

As nicely as title favourites Featherstone, nonetheless smarting from their shock loss in September, relegated Toulouse and a resurgent Bradford Bulls might be joined by newly-promoted Keighley in what guarantees to be a massively aggressive second-tier marketing campaign.

In stark distinction, Batley noticed the departure of a variety of gamers together with full-back Luke Hooley to Leeds Rhinos, and their largest transfer throughout the shut season was to announce admission costs could be pegged again to £10 per grownup in recognition of the price of dwelling disaster.

Lingard, beginning his fourth season as coach having beforehand remodeled 200 appearances as a participant, says nothing will change at a membership that’s stitched into the city’s material as firmly as its previous textile mills and the Fox’s Biscuits manufacturing facility.

Batley have been one among the authentic members of the Northern Football Union in 1895 and went on to win three Challenge Cups round the flip of the twentieth century as nicely as their solitary league title in 1924.

“There may be some clubs who feel they have to speculate to accumulate, but for us at Batley, much as it is frustrating for me as a coach trying to bring players in, it is all about being financially sustainable,” added Lingard.

“Everybody who signs for Batley knows they are going to be paid on time, they know they are not going to be owed any money at all, and they know they will not have to chase anybody.

“If you’re coming to Batley, you’re not coming for the money. You’re coming because you want to try to achieve something.

“We build our success on being honest and hard-working, so anybody who wants to play here has to drop into that group. The odds are always against us, but hopefully we have got that blend right again this year.”