‘We have all got our eyes on second place’ - Lachlan Walmsley says Halifax Panthers have their sights on high finish ahead of visit to York

The Panthers winger scored four tries in last weekend’s 48-20 victory over Barrow Raiders to take his tally to 28 in the league, eight more than Featherstone Rovers’ Gareth Gale.

But Walmsley is adamant that team success is more important than individual honours. He said:

“I have a few under the belt now but I am more worried about my job every week and worrying about the weekly game. I am more about the win to help the boys out.

“We have got bigger plans than just individual goals. I am more worried about getting another two points so we can make the finals and make a push for Super League.

“We have all got our eyes on second place. Toulouse, Sheffield and Batley are on 22 points and we’re only three points behind them. If we can catch a few games up by beating Batley and Sheffield and Toulouse in the coming weeks we could even pinch into second spot. It’s a week-by-week performance at the moment.”

He added. “It has been one of the best comps in a long while with how close it is and everyone beating everyone. Whitehaven beat Sheffield a few weeks back and Fev have been knocked over.

“It’s been close throughout the whole season but we had a goal of going higher and to finish in second spot. It has not shaped out exactly how we wanted so far but we are still within a chance to achieve our goals.”

On the prospect of facing York, who played on Wednesday evening at Whitehaven, Walmsley said:

“It should be an exciting match. We had a terrible start against Barrow, where we let 16 points slip within the first 15 minutes. We have got to worry about ourselves, worried about our own performance and how we can improve. Hopefully we have a better attitude this week.

“They’re the ones who will count themselves as underdogs and say they’ve had a tough week with three games but I don’t think it’s a massive advantage for us.”