‘Both teams want to win’ - Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams gearing up for Boxing Day clash

Moxon’s men make the short trip to the FLAIR Stadium on Tuesday, December 26 (kick off 12:12pm) to face a Rams side who romped to the League 1 title in 2023 and gained an instant return to the Championship.

He said: “It is a game where we will find a lot about where we are in terms of the pre-season. It has been well documented that we have lost three front-line players. Some lads now have the opportunity to take their chance in place of them so we will see how they go which will be really interesting for everybody. I am sure everyone is looking forward to the challenge.

“It means a lot. It’s a derby and both teams want to win it. There is no question about that. Coming up from League 1, Dewsbury will be full of confidence. They got loads of wins under their belt. They did great last year and kept the majority of that squad together.

“They lost a couple of good players in Reiss Butterworth and Connor Davies. But they have kept the majority and added to that. They have got a decent squad and a little bit of depth. We probably haven’t to be fair.

“It will be a tough encounter, as they always are against Dewsbury.They will be wanting to prove to everybody that they can compete in the Championship.”

Asked what his main aims to take away from the game were, Moxon replied:

“We want to win the game, we want to come through with no injuries and we want to look at where we are in terms of our development and preparation and see what we need to work on.

“We’ll be looking at players and seeing if we need to strengthen anywhere, if we still need to replace the players we have lost or are we going to go into the season with what we have got and give them a lads a further opportunity.

“80 minutes of rugby is going to tell us a lot of stories.”

Moxon also confirmed he was visiting Castleford Tigers this week as part of the two club’s dual registration agreement to “have a look at their younger players.”