Fylde RFC happy to be a fancied team for 2023/24

Only an outstanding Sedgley Park side, beaten once during the course of the 2022/23 campaign, finished above the Woodlands club last time out.

They launch into another 26-game campaign at home to Sheffield Tigers on Saturday (3pm).

Joint-head coach Chris Briers told The Gazette: “It’s good to be one of the favourites and we enjoyed last season, when we just missed out, and we want to be up there again.”

Fylde completed their preparations by beating Sale FC and Hawick in 40-minute matches at the Woodlands last Saturday.

Briers added: “We’re really pleased. We were hoping for a performance after preparing well and we were a lot better than at Blackburn (where Fylde were beaten in their other friendly).

“We performed the way we wanted to and got plenty of positives.”

These have been Fylde’s first matches since the sport’s much-discussed major rule change, outlawing all tackles above the sternum.

Briers, however, admits there is still some uncertainty and added: “I don’t recall many high tackles on Saturday and no dangerous ones.

“We will need a few games to see where the line is, how the officials are interpreting the rule and what message they are giving us.”

Although Fylde have retained most of last season’s squad, they have still made some changes.

Connor Wilkinson has been loaned to Caldy, Henry Higginson has joined Hinckley, while Zach Barrow and Tom Grimes have also left the club.

Fresh blood includes Sam Carleton, Ethan Hall-Lyon and Valu Tane Bentley, while the team bosses have confirmed a wish to boost the ranks further.

Briers said: “We do have a lot of continuity from last season and have replaced the players who have gone.

“Sam will go into the back three and Ethan has played well in pre-season but we do want to improve the squad.

“We are still in conversation with a couple and have worked hard over the summer.

“We do have a couple of injuries, which hopefully won’t be long-term, but you need your squad to be big enough to cover.

“We used around 30 players in the first team last season.”

In assessing likely challengers at the top, it’s customary to start with the teams dropping down from National One, namely Hull and Leeds Tykes.

“We don’t know what to expect,” said Briers.

“The clubs who have come down had a difficult season and have lost players. Still, you expect them to be strong but we don’t know how strong.”

Fylde did the double last season over the Tigers, their first opponents, but Briers said: “There really is no form at this time of year and it will be a couple of weeks before you know which teams have come back the best.”