Featherstone Rovers boss James Ford: 'We have a very together team'

New look Rovers came from 12-6 down to win 16-12 at the Millennium Stadium and got plenty out of the first hit out of the new campaign.

Most of the new signings were on show while a number of trialists also took their chance to impress head coach Ford.

He said: "It’s well documented the adversity we’ve had to go through in pre-season and I think sometimes that pulls you together.

"I saw a very together team, a team that worked very hard for one another. We were on the back foot for periods in the game, but they stuck to their task, kicked long and chased hard.

"Then when we got opportunities to post points we’ve got good players like Benny Reynolds, Thomas Lacans and Danny Addy combining with some of the blokes we’ve got on the edges. We should be a very threatening team.”

On his squad for the year ahead, Ford added: “A lot of players in the squad had signed with Super League in mind. Having fallen short of that these players still wanted to be Featherstone Rovers players despite having other offers.

"What we’ve got is a group of players who are here because they want to play for this club.

“We’re still waiting on some players to become available. McKenzie Yei hasn’t quite fulfilled his return to play conditioning and it wouldn’t be right to field him just yet. Wellington Albert is due in the country very soon.

"It’s also very encouraging to see Nathan Massey and Josh Hardcastle back in full training, I can’t wait to see those two take to the field for us.”

​Rovers are in action again this Sunday in the second of their Bartercard pre-season series as they host Dewsbury Rams.

The game will give Ford another chance to run the rule over trialists who featured against Bradford.

Local lad Charlie Harris impressed at full-back and took the sponsors man of the match while Jack Arnold, Dean Roberts and Sam Hassard came off the bench.

The team also included back rower AJ Wallace on dual-registration from Hull KR plus new boys in newly named captain Ben Reynolds, Danny Addy, Keenan Tomlinson, Ollie Farrar, Connor Wynne, Manoa Wacokecoke, Greg Minikin, Morris Kamano and Harry Bowes.