Sheffield Eagles will hope to enjoy greater success this season than last year’s 11th place finish.
Optimism is strong for the South Yorkshire team, who have a strong rugby league history and are seen to have recruited smartly for this season.
They have also received several contract boosts over the off-season, including club captain Joel Farrell signing a three-year contract.
The competition has been expanded to 21 teams from 13, after the decision to merge the Championship and League One to strengthen the structure outside the Super League.
According to the fixture release, The Eagles will play 12 of those teams home and away, with ten of those opponents decided off last year’s league position, and the other two based on geographical location, featuring two derby clashes against Doncaster.
They play their rivals once in ‘Rivals Round’ over Easter weekend (3-5 April) at the Steel City Stadium, before visiting them in the penultimate round of the league season in August.
Other highlights include games against former Super League heavyweights Widnes Vikings and the London Broncos.
They start the season away at Whitehaven on 18 January.
A quirk of the fixture list sees the Eagles play Whitehaven twice to start the season, hosting them a week later in the Betfred Challenge Cup.
There will be bye rounds with no fixtures for the Eagles at the beginning of February and June.
After the league season, the top ten teams will enter the play-offs which take place over four weeks in September, with the Grand Final taking place on 4 October.
Fans will hope that the League side can make it to the latter stage of the play-off phases, especially the prized final four.
Additionally, the 1895 Cup (the knockout competition for teams below the Super League) provides a very good chance of silverware.
They are the inaugural winners, and are looking to become the first team to win the competition twice.
The revamped Betfred Championship should cause a lot of intrigue this season, with plenty of new opponents and a real chance of success for the Eagles across an extremely competitive season.
Feature image – Courtesy of Sheffield Eagles
