Matt Diskin: ‘Championship needs more coverage’

Batley Bulldogs coach Matt Diskin has said the Championship doesn’t get the amount of coverage it deserves.

The part-time side put up a decent fight against full-time outfit Leigh Centurions on Sunday but they went down to a 34-6 defeat at the Leigh Sports Village.

And with the Championship more competitive than ever before, Diskin thinks that the second-tier should have more media coverage on it.

He said: “It’s probably the toughest Championship there has been yet and one that doesn’t get anyone coverage it deserves.

“It’s a great competition. It is almost two leagues in itself and what we are trying to do is make sure that we are at the top of the part-time teams there and let’s see if we can knock one or two of these big guns off because we are certainly capable of it.

“We have got a really quality unit from within the squad and you can see from that performance that they work hard for each other and if you are buying into the structures that are in place then we have got a chance.

“We are striving to be a real quality part-time team. If we can upset one or two of the big teams along the way then that’s an added bonus but to beat teams like Leigh then you have got to make sure that you don’t switch off at any time.”

And Diskin said he was proud of Batley’s performance against title favourites Leigh.

He added: “I think the scoreline flattered Leigh a little bit.

“The big difference between part-time and full-time is that you have got all the conditioners and everything in the world and should be fitter and stronger athletes and what they generally have is a higher concentration span and we talked about that in the week.

“The three or four lapses of concentration we had against the run of play, Leigh then came and scored against us which was a bit sickening.

“Our guys caused Leigh a few problems and defensively, we were quite structured until we had those lapses in our concentration. We are encouraged about it, we are proud and fought until the final whistle.”

Next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to Heywood Road as they face Swinton Lions on Sunday.