Coach Carl wants Crusaders side to dodge Cougars' bite

Leader Live

23-05-2025

Crusaders returned to the top of the League One rankings with last week's 74-0 success at home to Newcastle Thunder and another two-point haul from Sunday's trip to Keighley Cougars will keep them ahead of their rivals.
While six wins from seven matches sees North Wales leading the way, Keighley are in the bottom-two following seven successive defeats to open their campaign.
Head coach Forster isn't reading too much into this form, though, and he told Cru TV: 'Funnily enough, I made similarities of my first year here.
'We went zero from seven, didn't we, and we were a good team. We wasn't a bad team and you're just that one performance away from turning it all around and, obviously, we got to the grand final that year.
'So, you've only got to look at their playing squad. Ultimately, they were tipped to win the league. People will look at the league table and look at us top, them near the bottom and people will only give it one result.
'But, we're not that daft. They've got a new coach in there. He'll be bringing his fresh, new ideas in over the last couple of weeks and these are one performance away from going and stringing 10, 12 games together and winning them all.
'So, we're going to treat Keighley as an absolute quality outfit and quality squad that they are and it's going to be a massive game, and they'll be looking at us as, you know, they've got no pressure on their shoulders.
'They're playing top of the league and as we know being on the flip side of that, that can be a really dangerous animal to play against.'
North Wales got off to a superb start against basement side Newcastle last time out and they had the lead via a third minute try from Lloyd Roby. Toby Hughes (2), Sam Wilde, Ollie Brookes, Shaun Costello and Josh Eaves grabbed further scores as Crusaders went into the interval 36-0 to the good.
Brookes added two tries early in the second half to complete his hat-trick and further scores quickly came from Paddy Jones, Eaves and Roby as Cru ran riot.
In the last 10 minutes, Brookes added his fourth of the contest and Jack Houghton scored the last try three minutes from time.
With the likes of Hughes, Matty Unsworth and Costello impressing in that match, Forster has plenty of players at his disposal as he looks towards Sunday's squad.
'They've given me a really tough headache coming into the next couple of weeks,' stressed Forster.
'We were a little bit light in the pack. I think, obviously, we are going to lose Cole Oakley for the next two games. He goes to get married, so we are going to have to shift a few things around.
'But, I think Toby stepped up well, but I knew I was going to get that from him. He's trained the house down.
'He's been really good and I think I've said enough good things about him in the last couple of weeks.'
Second-placed Workington have home advantage against Goole on Sunday, while Midlands, in third, host to Whitehaven. Newcastle visit Rochdale.