Whitehaven are to look at Millom prop Ethan Kelly for a month after giving him a run out in the final warm-up game.

Kelly figured in the 46-12 win against Newcastle Thunder at the Recreation Ground, after training with the squad on Friday night.

Head coach Gary Charlton said: “We were aware of Ethan’s potential and he was Man of the Match in the Challenge Cup tie with Red Star Belgrade. He fitted in really well with the lads and what he did in tackling and taking the ball in against Newcastle was good. He will train with us for a month and see how he develops but he looks to have a bit of potential in him.”

Charlton was happy enough with the victory over Newcastle to round off their warm-up programme ahead of the League One opener at home to Keighley on Sunday.

“We said all along that we want to improve week to week and I think that’s been the case. There are still areas where we need to work on but we are making steady progress,” added Charlton.

“I thought we played some good stuff in possession while we have worked hard on our defence. However, there are still some areas which needs a bit more work before we are at where we want to be.”

Newcastle have been installed as second favourites to win the League One title behind Oldham but they included a large number of Academy players in the team that figured at the Recre.

“We are not getting carried away with scoring 46 points against the second favourites because we know it was well off their full squad,” said Charlton.

“But we had a number of players missing, too, and in the end you can only beat what’s put in front of you. We are hopeful that both Dion [Aiye]and Jessie Joe [Parker] will be available for the game against the Cougars while Jordan Burns will also be in contention.”