‘It was a great turn out for him and a great occasion’ - Wind and mud doesn’t stop Dane Manning enjoying his Batley Bulldogs testimonial

The Bulldogs recorded a routine 36-0 victory in their penultimate friendly against some of North Kirklees’ best amateur players thanks to tries from Greg Johnson, Dale Morton, Nyle Flynn, Robbie Butterworth, George Senior, Josh Woods and Ben White.

And although Manning didn’t get on the trysheet, Moxon believes he enjoyed himself in the difficult conditions.

He said: “It looked like he enjoyed himself when you see the photos of him covered in mud. That’s him. He is a warrior. Those conditions don’t bother Manu. He will play and enjoy the game in any condition.

“That is just the type of bloke he is. It was a great turn out for him and a great occasion. It was a professional performance for him.”

The driving rain and howling wind around Mount Pleasant made it tricky for both teams but Moxon was pleased with how the Bulldogs handled the conditions as well as giving certain players some valuable minutes ahead of the 2024 campaign.

“Given the conditions, I was quite happy with how it went,” he revealed. “There are certainly areas for improvement but overall I was delighted with the zero and delighted with the defensive side of it.

“I would have liked to have been more clinical with the ball but, given the conditions, it was understandable our good ball didn’t click as we would have liked.

“We spoke about, in the build up, the pitches and that the weather could be like this up to two months so we have just got to get used to playing in conditions like this. We are going to be playing in mud, on grass, for the next few weeks, so we have got to be able to handle the conditions.”

On his game plan for players, he added: “I was really pleased that I was able to execute my plan before the game in terms of giving players game time. In the middles, Browny (James Brown), Flynn, Lucas Walshaw and Brandon Moore was their first run out, that’s why I rested Gledhill (Adam), Blake (Luke) and Buchanan (Kieran) just so I could get minutes into the players that I wanted to get minutes into.

“I was pleased I managed to do that. I would have liked to have played Robbie Butterworth at half but George got a bump on the AC joint and Dave Gibbons couldn’t play due to a tweak in his hamstring in the build up.”

Batley Bulldogs next face Wakefield Trinity at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium on Sunday, January 28 (kick off 2pm).