Toronto Wolfpack look to get past rocky training camp as they open regular season

“How I feel going into (the season) is just chill, to be fair like I always am. We’ll put our best foot forward.”

The new Wolfpack faces are Australians Jack Buchanan, Josh McCrone and Cory Paterson, Albanian-born Olsi Krasniqi, Fiji international Ashton Sims and England’s Andy Ackers, Tom Armstrong, Adam Higson, Sam Hopkins, Nick Rawsthorne and Joe Westerman.

McCrone, an NRL veteran who will pull the strings for the Toronto attack, takes over as captain with the towering Sims as vice-captain.

Toronto started seven of the newcomers in its 34-0 pre-season win over the Bradford Bulls, who will play in the third tier this season.

Former captain Craig Hall, Steve Crossley, Tom Dempsey, Dan Fleming, Rhys Jacks, Sean Penkywicz and Shaun Pick joined Momoi, Bailey and Taylor in leaving the club during the off-season.

Moimoi, Bailey and Taylor, all former internationals, were erased in a two-paragraph 30-word club statement on Jan. 18. No explanation was offered, with some form of misbehaviour on a warm-weather training trip to Portugal believed to be behind the sudden divorce.

Taylor, a former Australian international who signed in the off-season, exits without having played for the club. Moimoi, a hard-running former New Zealand and Tongan international, was a fan favourite last season. Bailey, a former England and Great Britain international, had injury issues in 2017 but was one of the club’s most decorated players.

Leigh finished 11th in the Super League last season with a 6-17-0 record and was relegated to the Championship after losing 26-10 to the Catalan Dragons in the so-called “Million Pound Game” last September.

Toronto, meanwhile, won promotion from the Kingstone Press League 1 (now the Betfred League 1) by winning the third-tier league with a 20-1-1 record.

Rowley says the step up in competition will be noticeable this season.

“Our toughest games last year, they would be our easiest games this year,” he said.

Sunday’s match at Leigh is a reunion of sorts.

Rowley played at and coached Leigh and Toronto’s Armstrong, Higson, Hopkins, Patterson, Bob Beswick, Ryan Brierley, Andrew Dixon, Jake Emmitt, Liam Kay, Jonny Pownall, Rawsthorne, Richard Whiting and Greg Worthington all played there.

Hall went the other way, signing with Leigh in the off-season.

Despite the many connections, Rowley downplays the significance of the game.

“Nothing special at all,” he said. “We’ll turn up. There’ll be a good atmosphere. We’re playing on a good field. The grass is green. It will rain. And we’ll turn up like we do any other game.”

The bookmakers, however, see Leigh and Toronto as the class of the Championship. William Hill has Leigh the favourite to win the regular season at 4/7 while Toronto is second choice at 6/4.

Armstrong and Gary Wheeler are both out injured with Sims doubtful this weekend. American Ryan Burroughs and Victoria’s Quinn Ngwati are also unavailable, as is one other whom Rowley declined to identify.

While the Wolfpack have moved into a new, improved training centre in Manchester, they have stadium issues back home.

Replacing the artificial turf at the city-owned Lamport Stadium has meant that Toronto will play 14 of its first 15 games in England — and it is very possible that Lamport may not be ready for the May 5 home opener against Swinton, necessitating a move to another local venue.

The city says the turf replacement process may not finish until late June, throwing another three or four games scheduled for Lamport into question.

“Obviously it’s going to be a really tough start but you’d like to think then if we put ourselves in a healthy position at the end of that tough start then we’ve got a strong finish,” Rowley said of the schedule.

Plus it will take time for all the new faces to blend in.

“You’ll see the best of us at the that back end when we’re bringing it home,” Rowley promised. “Which isn’t a bad thing.”

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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Toronto Wolfpack look to get past rocky training camp as they open regular season

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