MATTY DAWSON and Ben Blackmore have been made available for Batley for the Bulldogs’ home trial clash against Halifax on Sunday (2.00).

The youngsters featured for the Giants in last Friday’s 26-0 Super League XVIII pre-season defeat at St Helens.

The 22-year-old Dawson showed up well on the wing in the opening half of that Langtree Park clash, while the 19-year-old Blackmore – a close-season signing from Castleford Tigers – also showed some good touches when he took over his wing spot during the second period.

But with strike winger Jermaine McGillvary returning for duty against Widnes on Sunday following ankle surgery and the experienced Leroy Cudjoe, Scott Grix, Luke George, Aaron Murphy and Joe Wardle all needing more gametime, the Batley option was best for Dawson (left) and Blackmore (right).

With Huddersfield having now formed an official link with Kirklees neighbours Batley, the youngsters are expected to be the first of a number Giants’ fringe first-team players to spend time at Mount Pleasant under vastly-experienced coach John Kear.

And Giants head coach Anderson is convinced it’ll do them a power of good.

“Matty and Ben are players with an incredible amount of potential, and this decision is in no way a reflection of the way they played at Saints last week,” said Anderson.

“They both showed some good touches.

“It’s just that we have a number of outside backs who are slightly – not massively – in front of them at the moment, and they need to be getting the gametime before the start of the new season.

“Unfortunately, that means Matty and Ben are having to miss out.

“But, on the other hand, we do have the Batley option, and the next best thing for them is to be playing in the Championship. They now have that opportunity.”

While these two could be in action at the Mount this weekend, a number of their other young teammates are expected to feature in an Under 19s trial match at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats on Wednesday.

Those include young first-team squad men Peter Aspinall, Jake Connor and Nathan Mason, along with part-timers Kruise Leeming and Jack Miller, who all faced Super League opposition for the first time at St Helens seven days ago.

“There was understandably a fair bit of nervousness for these boys on the night,” added Anderson.

“But they still didn’t do themselves any harm with the way they played. You could tell they’ve all benefited from training with the senior squad.”