The North Wales Crusaders squad are ‘fully committed’ to improving results and climbing the league table, according to James Dandy.

Much was expected of the Wrexham club this term after its extensive recruitment of new players in the off-season.

But the League One outfit have laboured in the early stages of the League One campaign, collecting just one win from their first six outings.

Now Cru hooker Dandy believes the club are emerging from a transitional period after returning head coach Anthony Murray replaced Mike Grady last month.

Dandy said: “There have been a lot of early changes here at a coaching level with Anthony coming back here.

“It’s not just Anthony, obviously he’s working alongside Johnny (Leather) as well as the conditioning coaches and physios.

“The general set-up and atmosphere feels a lot more professional and training seems more structured now with the physios and conditioners doing their jobs while Anthony and his assistants run the skills and tackles sessions.

“There’s more focus on technique and the intensity has increased. Results obviously haven’t been what we’d hoped for, but Anthony only come back to the club three weeks ago.

“I can’t put my finger on exactly why we’ve struggled to pick up more wins than we have.

“I think it’ll take a bit of time for us to see big changes on the pitch but there have definitely been some positives already.

“Although we lost the game, our performance at Doncaster was excellent and we pushed one of the strongest teams in the division all the way away from home.

“We didn’t follow that up, but it’s still early days and everyone’s fully committed to try to make sure we perform like that on a regular basis.”

With big-hitters like Doncaster and Bradford Bulls tipped as title favourites, League One looks set to be tightly contested this term.

An improving Newcastle Thunder side swept the Cru aside last weekend to underline their play-off credentials, with the north east side one of many clubs vying for a top-eight finish.

Asked if a Super 8s place was still a feasible prospect for the Cru, Dandy was unequivocal.

He added: “100 per cent, that’s still a definite target. We’re only six games in and no side has really made a break away in the table yet, so it’s still very early days as far as we’re concerned.

“We need to start winning our home games to build form and get the confidence we need to take into away games.The quality and the belief is there and as players come back to fitness there will be massive competition for places too.

“That breeds natural selection in a team and puts pressure on everyone for their shirt, which can only be a good thing.”