NEWS | Beharrell ready for season opener

Matty Beharrell is relishing returning to his former club Keighley Cougars on the opening day of the new Betfred League 1 season on Sunday.

The Yorkshire derby will be the Dons' first outing for more than a year, and with Beharrell - who is in line for his 150th competitive outing for all clubs - says it be a good marker of where his side are this season.

He said: “Keighley are a good side and will be up there this year. They’ve looked pretty good in their friendlies.

“It’s been a long wait to get back, but they will be a good test and show where we’re at this year.

“There are a few people on each team who played for the other side previously, it’s the first game of the season and they’ve signed some good players so it has all the ingredients for a good match.”

The season-opener will be played without supporters, and Beharrell hopes that will reduce the benefits the Cougars have from playing at home.

He added: “Keighley are a great team at home and they like going down that slope, the fans can be pretty noisy too so it’ll work in our favour that they’re not there.

“We’ve ramped up our preparations in training we’ve been playing as hard as we can against each other to get ourselves set and we’ll be ready for anything that comes our way.”

Sign-up to Our League now at Rugby-League.com to secure your match pass for the game at an early bird price of £4.95, and be sure to select the Dons as your chosen club to ensure valuable revenue for the club.