YORK Acorn ARLC have not set any targets for the new National Conference League season - though boss Scott Rhodes has demanded his team do not underachieve again.

Acorn finished seventh of 12 teams in division one last year having initially skirted with the promotion frame and later the drop zone.

They kick off this term at home to Wigan St Jude’s (2.30pm) - a late rearrangement as original opponents Elland are involved in the Challenge Cup third round - and, while Rhodes classed it as a winnable game against a side relegated from the premier division with only two wins all term, he said the focus was on getting the display right, not least their discipline.

“It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing, we’re concentrating on our performance,” said Rhodes.

“I haven’t sat down with the players and set targets, although I thought last season we probably underachieved so we want to do better.

“We lost a lot of close games and if we had won them we could have been near the top but we ended just below mid-table.

“I think St Jude’s followed by Milford at home are winnable games to start with but it’s a difficult league and hard to call.

“Elland are looking strong (after promotion), Skirlaugh (relegated) are a good club, Myton are always tough, to name a few. We will take it one game at a time and know we have to play well to win.”

Acorn were knocked out of the Challenge Cup last month by Normanton, having seen a man sent off and plenty of penalties conceded in what was their first outing of the year.

In a bid to improve discipline, a new fines system has since been agreed by senior players to punish future transgressions.

Rhodes added: “One area we’ve been working on is discipline. It has to be a lot better. We lost the cup game due to discipline but we’ve talked it out and we’ve put structures in place so hopefully that will improve.”

Aside from that tie, Rhodes said pre-season had gone “pretty well”, boosted by a 74-4 hammering of Featherstone Lions in the Yorkshire Men’s League’s pre-season Forty-20 Cup competition last week - although that game saw the Blue and Golds field several first-teamers alongside reserves against the Lions’ ‘A’ team.

“We’ve had a lot of numbers down - between 30 and 45 every training session - which is always good,” he said. “It’s important to keep these players happy through - out the year with lots of game time.

“We’ve been using indoor facilities at York University, which has been good, as ours are still in progress, and we started a bit later this year.

“I felt we started too early last year and peaked at the wrong time. This year everyone seems hungry.

“I put a strong side out in the Forty-20 Cup and, while it was a bit of a mismatch, we played well.”

Also back in contention this week are first-teamers such as Davey Burns, Matthew Woods, Daryl North, Jordan Myers, Gareth Singleton, veteran schemer Andy Gargan and youngster Jake Calam, inset , who is back at Acorn after a spell in Castleford Tigers’ academy.

“I’ll have a selection headache to start the season with,” added Rhodes.

Heworth - who will host the final of the Yorkshire Men’s League’s Forty-20 Cup on Friday, May 22 - kick off their National Conference League division three season next week.

This Saturday, they entertain Yorkshire Men’s League club Scarborough Pirates in a friendly (2.30pm).