Nine games into their Yorkshire Men's Division Two campaign and Shaw Cross Sharks A sit second. Just two points behind Bradford Dudley Hill A. James Collins' side have won their last three games and face the league leaders later in July but not before travelling to Hunslet to face Hunslet Warriors A.

for the Head Coach Collins their form has been a result of a dedicated squad full of quality.
"I would say our overall squad is strong. We've won seven out of nine games but even the two we lost [against Bradford and Normanton Knights A] we're due to their first team not having games so they were able to field muich stronger sides than they'd have been able to had their first team had a match."

The Sharks are firing on two fronts gunning for both league and cup glory with the team making the final of the John Kane Cup. Which will be contest against Batley Boys at the end of August.

However the Sharks have a huge month ahead of them with the return game at home against Bradford. Collins feels that should his side come out of that clash with a victory they could go on to win the league. "If we can get through the Hunslet game which I'm confident we can that makes the game against Bradford massive and we'll need a league winning performance to leapfrog them into first.
"I'm confident in the squad but I genuinely think that in the first game had their first team had a game and they'd have fielded their usual team that we'd have beaten them but they are a very strong squad but so are we and we play them at home and on our day we can beat anybody."

Before the season started Collins did not have a specific target in mind but admitted he'd like to replicate the success of a league and cup double achieved by the squad last season.
"Obviously it'd be nice to do it again and at the minute we are on form to do that. However we only just beat bottom of the league [East Leeds A] on Saturday so we've got to say our target every week is to get our attitude right and get our head screwed on and the results should follows if those things are right."

the Head Coach paid special homage to his coaching staff: assistant coach Mark Bickerdyke, coach Graham Parker and physio Tony Hardiman. Collins was quick to praise their efforts with the team and insists that they, as much as the players, deserve a huge amount of praise for the current form of the team.

Collins has managed to strike a fine balance in the squad with them having the second best offence whilst also boasting the third best defence in the league. The Head Coach feels the structure of the team has played a huge role. He said: "I think it comes down to organisation mainly and good team morale. I think at Shaw Cross we've got a big enough squads in the first team and the second team with committed players that they're willing to play for either team."

Shaw Cross A's have got a squad with plenty of depth and versatility but did single out several players who he felt have been integral in the team's success so far this term: Dicky Piper, Sam Bastow, Jake Townsend, Jamie Searby, seasoned performer Johnny Numa, versatile player Ryan Stuckey and captain Zac Parkinson were all singled out for praise. "Zac is a great leader and he's been great. Johnny is still going at 37,38 years-old. Stuckey is willing to play in a different number of positions and we've got a few players like that who I can move about freely and they'll still put a good performance in."