‘It will be a challenge’: Batley Bulldogs aim to end high-flying Newcastle Thunder’s 12-game winning run

Newcastle have won their past 12 Championship games and sit second in the table just four points behind leaders London Broncos.

They have also beaten the Bulldogs twice already in 2026, knocking James Ford’s men out of the 1895 Cup in April, 34-20, before thrashing them 52-8 in the league a month later.

But Batley enter the game having ended a five-game losing run at Swinton Lions last weekend.

“They are about where they should be,” Ford said when asked about how he rated the Thunder’s season so far. “They are a full-time team. They have got a lot of players that played for York last year who won the division. They train over at York and they play like York.

“They have got some good talented young players as well who they see as potential Super League players for York.

“It will be a challenge. They are a good team, they are very physical as you would expect full-time professionals to be, but we will focus on our game and try to be a little bit better than we were against Swinton.”

On a potential London versus Newcastle play-off Grand Final, Ford said: “Newcastle got the easiest version of the fixture list if you like, but if you were putting me on the spot on who would win, London would win quite comfortably I think.”

Jack Hudson will miss the game with concussion while Felix Ellis (shoulder) will be assessed ahead of the fixture.

“I don’t think we have had that many injuries, I just think we don’t have that many players,” Ford said about his side’s 2026 health situation. “So if you only have 21 players and you’ve got four missing then you are struggling. The S&C team and medical team have been pretty good, guiding us on when to push them and when not to in training.

“We have picked up some unfortunate injuries with broken bones, but I don’t feel too harshly done by. We are in a rebuild and going forward we will have a little bit more depth in our squad so that when we do get a couple of injuries it is not as much of a challenge.”

Mitch Beedle, the former Castleford Tigers’ youngster who signed for Batley in May, will be in contention to play again after starring for the Bulldogs at Swinton.

Ford admired: “He just looks so exciting. I am really pleased that he is a Batley player. He did some things on the field on Sunday that were worthy of the admission fee and that’s what we want to do.

“We want to entertain people and we want people to come and watch this Batley team this year and over the coming years and be excited and be entertained by it.

“We are certainly going in the right direction.”