He said: "We've got seven games coming up in 29 days - that's going to stretch our squad to the limit. The fixture congestion at this part of the season is very difficult for us to deal with."

He added: "We played Swinton a couple of weeks ago but every game is totally different. We didn't turn up at the races in that game and having spoken to Paul Kidd, I don't think Swinton felt they did either."

Lions' coach Paul Kidd has called for continued focus on concentration and commitment.

He said: "We've got three Northern Rail Cup group games left and we want to continue to take a lot from these fixtures. We're moving in the right direction even though we haven't won yet. There's certainly plenty of confidence in the camp.

"This week it'll be an interesting game and the scoreline from our previous encounter speaks for itself - we're two very equal teams and it should be another entertaining clash." Rest of the matches