Swindon Wildcats to kick off Autumn Cup quest against Telford Tigers and The Bees

The Cats chief leads his team into the first competitive action of the year with six of seven previously-absent players expected to return to the fold following minor injury issues.

Those half-dozen who are expected to return to action will hope to play a part in a successful launch in a competition which represents the first piece of silverware up for grabs.

Previewing the weekend against Telford and The Bees, Nell said: “The first week of pre-season, you’ve got so much adrenaline and you just want to get back into it – especially this year.

“In the second week, you are starting to look forward more to the real stuff.

“It’s going to be a big game for us, it will be a great game with Telford who were without doubt the best team two years ago.

“They were the one team we couldn’t get a handle on, so it will be a good measuring stick for us early in the season to see where we’re at.

“And there is an opportunity for redemption against the Bees too – it will be two good games.”

Reflecting on the final week of pre-season, Nell said the 13-7 aggregate reverse – which featured a 9-5 defeat at home on Saturday – was difficult to take positives out of, but did give credit to the bit-part squad that fought to keep the game on Sunday much closer.

Nell said: “There’s not loads you can take out of a weekend like that.

“I was disappointed with how we ended the game on Saturday – it was too open. We can’t play like that, we’ve got to be a lot tighter.

“But on Sunday, we had even more players out through injury, but we played a lot tighter and a lot harder.

“I was really proud of how the older players and the younger players handled that situation because the final game of pre-season is always very difficult.

“We would have liked to have won, but missing seven of our better players was tough, so their attitude was good to see.”