Championship 2021 Season Previews, video verdicts & squad lists

The Betfred Championship gets underway this weekend and we’ve had a look at all 14 clubs in what looks like an extremely competitive competition in 2021.

Batley Bulldogs

Coach: Craig Lingard
Key man: Tom Gilmore
One to watch: Jack Logan

Squad: 1 Luke Hooley, 2 Wayne Reittie, 3 Kieran Buchanan, 5 Johnny Campbell, 6 Ben White, 7 Tom Gilmore, 8 Adam Gledhill, 9 Alistair Leak, 10 Toby Everett, 11 Dane Manning, 12 Lucas Walshaw, 13 James Brown, 14 Elliot Hall, 15 Jack Blagbrough, 16 Michael Ward, 17 Josh Tonks, 18 George Senior, 19 Tom Lillycrop, 20 Joe Sanderson, 21 Jodie Broughton, 22 Dale Morton, 23 Jack Logan, 24 Ben Kaye, 25 Anthony Bowman, 26 Nyle Flynn, 27 Aiden Ineson, 28 Dom Horn

Bradford Bulls

Coach: John Kear
Key man: Danny Brough
One to watch: Brandon Pickersgill

Squad: 1 Brandon Pickersgill, 2 Joe Brown, 3 Rhys Evans, 4 Ross Oakes, 5 Matty Dawson-Jones, 6 Danny Brough, 7 Jordan Lilley, 8 Anthony England, 9 Thomas Doyle, 10 Steve Crossley, 11 Adam Rooks, 12 Aaron Murphy, 13 Sam Hallas, 14 George Flanagan, 15 Dan Fleming, 16 Brad Gallagher, 17 Levy Nzoungou, 18 Ebon Scurr, 19 David Foggin-Johnston, 20 Brad England, 21 Elliot Wallis, 22 Reece Hamlett, 26 Matty Race, 27 Billy Jowitt, 28 Bradley Ho, 29 Cameron Berry, 30 Murphy Smith, 31 Ethan O’Hanlon, 32 Sam Smith

Dewsbury Rams

Coach: Lee Greenwood
Key man: Paul Sykes
One to watch: Reiss Butterworth

Squad: 1 Joe Martin, 2 Andy Gabriel, 3 Adam Ryder, 4 Matt Fleming, 5 Will Oakes, 6 Paul Sykes, 7 Liam Finn, 8 Frazer Morris, 9 Reiss Butterworth, 10 Tom Garratt, 11 Jason Walton, 12 Michael Knowles, 13 Chris Annakin, 14 Sam Day, 15 Keenan Tomlinson, 16 Connor Scott, 17 Joe Wardill, 18 Davey Dixon, 21 Brad Clavering, 22 Reece Chapman-Smith, 23 Jon Magrin, 24 Jordan Schofield, 25 James Thornton, 26 Bailey Liu, 27 Lewis Carr, 28 Jamie Abram, 29 Rhys Davies

Featherstone Rovers

Coach: James Webster
Key man: Dane Chisholm
One to watch: Nu Brown

Squad: 1 Craig Hall, 2 Ben Blackmore, 3 Kris Welham, 4 Josh Hardcastle, 5 Gareth Gale, 6 Tom Holmes, 7 Dane Chisholm, 8 Craig Kopczak, 9 Fa’amanu Brown, 10 James Harrison, 11 Brett Ferres, 12 Brad Day, 13 James Lockwood, 14 Connor Jones, 15 John Davies, 16 Jack Bussey, 17 Thomas Minns, 18 Luke Cooper, 19 Callum Field, 20 Frankie Halton, 21 Dean Parata, 22 Jake Sweeting, 23 Joe Summers, 24 Dale Ferguson, 25 Louis Sheriff, 26 Jimmy Beckett, 27 Loui McConnell, 28 Jacob Doyle, 29 Harvey Spence, 30 Liam Whitton, 31 Junior Moors

Halifax Panthers

Coach: Simon Grix
Key man: Connor Robinson
One to watch: Amir Bourouh

Squad: 1 Scott Grix, 2 Nick Rawsthorne, 3 Greg Worthington, 4 James Woodburn-Hall, 5 James Saltonstall, 6 Liam Harris, 7 Connor Robinson, 8 Elliot Morris, 9 Brandon Moore, 10 Dan Murray, 11 Matt Garside, 12 Ed Barber, 13 Jacob Fairbank, 14 Kevin Larroyer, 15 Gadwin Springer, 16 Will Calcott, 17 Ben Kavanagh, 18 Connor Davies, 19 Conor McGrath, 20 Curtis Davies, 21 Zack McComb, 22 Amir Bourouh, 23 Sion Jones, 24 Ben Tibbs, 27 Paul Brearley

London Broncos

Coach: Danny Ward
Key man: Jarrod Sammut
One to watch: Abbas Miski

Squad: 1 James Meadows, 2 Tuoyo Egodo, 3 Chris Hankinson, 4 Will Lovell, 5 Ed Chamberlain, 6 Cory Aston, 7 Jarrod Sammut, 8 Olsi Krasniqi, 9 Matty Fozard, 10 Greg Richards, 11 Sadiq Adebiyi, 12 Rhys Curran, 13 Josh Walters, 14 Sam Davis, 15 Romain Navarrete, 16 Dan Hindmarsh, 17 Abbas Miski, 18 Jordan Williams, 19 Jacob Ogden, 20 Gideon Boafo, 21 Rian Horsman, 22 Oliver Leyland, 23 Josh Hodson, 24 Will Blakemore, 25 Jacob Jones, 26 Rob Oakley, 27 Jonah Varela, 28 Titus Gwaze

Newcastle Thunder

Coach: Eamon O’Carroll
Key man: Bob Beswick
One to watch: Kieran Gill

Squad: 1 Lewis Young, 2 Jack Johnson, 3 Matty Wright, 4 Kieran Gill, 5 Calum Turner, 6 Jake Shorrocks, 7 Josh Woods, 8 Nathan Wilde, 9 Bob Beswick, 10 Mikey Wood, 11 Ukuma Ta’ai, 12 Sam Wilde, 13 Liam McAvoy, 14 Evan Simons, 15 Ted Chapelhow, 16 Jay Chapelhow, 17 Connor Bailey, 18 Alex Clegg, 19 Evan Hodgson, 20 Cole Oakley, 21 Reece Dean, 22 Samy Kibula, 23 Joe Brown, 24 Rhys Clarke, 25 Ollie Gowing, 26 Kieran Hudson, 27 Alex Donaghy, 28 Cian Tyrer.

Oldham

Coach: Matt Diskin
Key man: Danny Langtree
One to watch: Tyler Dupree

Squad: 1 Dan Abram, 2 Tommy Brierley, 3 Ben Heaton, 5 Ryan Ince, 6 Lewis Charnock, 7 Dave Hewitt, 8 Phil Joy, 9 Gareth Owen, 10 Jack Spencer, 11 Danny Langtree, 12 Liam Bent, 13 Martyn Reilly, 14 Matty Wilkinson, 15 Luke Nelmes, 16 Tyler Dupree, 17 Liam Kirk, 19 Matthew Fletcher, 20 Jode Sheriffe, 21 Shaun Pick, 22 Kyran Johnson, 23 Callum Green, 24 Max Roberts, 25 Danny Bridge, 26 James Barran, 27 Ben Holcroft, 28 Joe Hartley, 29 Dec Gregory, 30 John Hutchings.

Sheffield Eagles

Coach: Mark Aston
Key man: Anthony Thackeray
One to watch: Harry Tyson-Wilson

Squad: 1 Josh Guzdek, 2 Rob Worrincy, 3 Connor Bower, 4 James Glover, 5 Ryan Millar, 7 Anthony Thackeray, 8 Scott Wheeldon, 9 James Davey, 10 Matt James, 11 Brad Knowles, 12 Joel Farrell, 13 Aaron Brown, 14 Greg Burns, 15 Oliver Davies, 16 Robbie Ward, 17 Frankie Mariano, 18 Tyler Dickinson, 19 Blake Broadbent, 20 Paddy Burns, 21 Rory Dixon, 22 Izaac Farrell, 23 Harry Tyson-Wilson, 24 Ryan Johnson, 25 Jordan Bull, 26 Chris Ball, 27 Travis Corion, 28 Jack Render, 29 Mike Adlard

Swinton Lions

Coach: Stuart Littler
Key man: Martyn Ridyard
One to watch: Geronimo Doyle

Squad: 1 Mike Butt, 2 Richard Lepori, 3 Mitch Cox, 4 Liam Forsyth, 5 Sam Grant, 6 Martyn Ridyard, 7 Jack Hansen, 8 Sam Brooks, 9 Luke Waterworth, 10 Lewis Hatton, 11 Rhodri Lloyd, 12 Nick Gregson, 13 Will Hope, 14 Billy Brickhill, 15 Louis Brogan, 16 Paddy Jones, 17 Jose Kenga, 18 Cobi Green, 19 Deane Meadows, 20 Tayler Brown, 21 Ben Heyes, 22 Geronimo Doyle, 23 Jacob Smillie, 24 Paul Nash, 25 Luis Roberts, 26 Jordan Brown.

Toulouse Olympique

Coach: Sylvain Houles
Key man: Mark Kheirallah
One to watch: Justin Sangare

Squad: 1 Mark Kheirallah, 2 Jy Hitchcox, 3 Junior Vaivai, 4 Mathieu Jussaume, 5 Paul Marcon, 6 Johnathon Ford, 7 Ben Reynolds, 8 Rémi Casty, 9 Lloyd White, 10 Harrison Hansen, 11 Andrew Dixon, 12 Dominique Peyroux, 13 Anthony Marion, 14 Eloi Pelissier, 15 Maxime Puech, 16 Joe Bretherton, 17 Joseph Paulo, 18 Mitch Garbutt, 19 Bastien Ader, 20 Ilias Bergal, 21 Latrell Schaumkel, 23 Justin Sangaré

Whitehaven

Coach: Gary Charlton
Key man: Gregg McNally
One to watch: Lachlan Walmsley

Squad: 1. Gregg McNally, 2. Lachlan Walmsley, 3. Chris Taylor, 4. Jessie Joe Parker, 5. Andrew Bulman, 6. Karl Dixon, 7. Nikau Williams, 8. Marc Shackley, 9. Callum Phillips, 10. Kris Coward, 11. Brett Phillips, 12. Liam Cooper, 13. Dion Aiye, 14. Sam Dowsett, 15. Connor Holiday, 16. Tom Wilkinson, 17. Tom Walker, 18. James Newton, 19. Ellis Gillam, 20. Jake Bradley, 21. Glenn Riley, 22. Brett Carter, 23. Jason Mossop, 24. Ethan Kelly, 25. James Worthington, 26. Ryan King, 27. Andrew Dawson, 28. Karl Olstrom, 29. Dean Zammit, 30. Sean Croston

Widnes Vikings

Coach: Simon Finnigan
Key man: Jack Owens
One to watch: Lewis Else

Squad: 1 Jack Owens, 2 Jayden Hatton, 3 Jake Spedding, 4 Steve Tyrer, 5 Deon Cross, 6 Danny Craven, 7 Matty Smith, 8 Paul Clough, 9 Logan Tomkins, 10 Matt Cook, 11 Shane Grady, 12 Adam Lawton, 13 Kenny Baker, 14 Lee Jewitt, 15 Connor Dwyer, 16 Owen Farnworth, 17 Joe Lyons, 18 Lloyd Roby, 19 Joe Edge, 20 Owen Buckley, 21 Calum O’Neill, 22 Josh Wilde, 23 Lewis Else, 24 Will Tilleke, 25 Daniel Hill, 26 Ollie Brookes

York City Knights

Coach: James Ford
Key man: Adam Cuthbertson
One to watch: Riley Dean

Squad: 1 Matty Marsh, 2 Jason Bass, 3 Liam Salter, 4 Ryan Atkins, 5 Kieran Dixon, 6 Brendan O’Hagan, 7 Morgan Smith, 8 Ronan Dixon, 9 Will Jubb, 10 Jack Teanby, 11 Chris Clarkson, 12 Sam Scott, 13 Adam Cuthbertson, 14 Kriss Brining, 15 Jordan Baldwinson, 16 Marcus Stock, 17 Danny Kirmond, 19 James Green, 20 Tim Spears, 21 Joe Porter, 22 Perry Whiteley, 23 Ben Jones-Bishop, 24 Daniel Barcoe, 25 AJ Towse, 26 Myles Harrison, 27 Toby Warren, 28 Danny Washbrook, 29 Riley Dean, 30 Tyme Dow-Nikau