HAVEN captain Scott McAvoy believes he and his team-mates learned some valuable lessons in 2015 which will be remembered when the new season starts.

The West Cumbrians left it late in the season to secure their place in the Championship as they beat Doncaster on the final day to go four points ahead of Hunslet Hawks.

Whitehaven won just two of their last seven games of the season but beat Featherstone 29-0 in their last regular season game before the Super 8s.

“I think we felt like we had done enough to stay up when we beat Featherstone,” McAvoy, pictured, said.

“The odds were in our favour but we finished the season disappointed that we didn’t win as many games.

“If we can start the season well then we’ll find ourselves in a much better position.

“The long season took its toll on the squad we had. We had playerswho played out of position and those who played when they shouldn’t.

“If it wasn’t for the dual-registration players we would have struggled for numbers.

“But we got there in the end and I think we learned a lot of lessons towards the end of the season.

“The club is in a better place than it has been for the last five or six seasons.

“The majority of the squad is still there and we’re all familiar with each other.

“Beforehand you’d go into training and there’d be 15 new faces there that you need to gel with.”

McAvoy will miss the start of pre-season after surgery on his knee but says as soon as he feels ready to play he’ll put his hand up for the club.

“While they were doing the surgery on a cartilage trim they performed microfracture surgery which will keep me out for a little bit longer,” the skipper added. “Rather than two to three weeks recovery it’ll be a couple of months, which is disappointing because you want to be out there training.

“You always feel better after you start pre-season but I’ll catch up as quickly as I can.

“I want to be ready for our pre-season games and when I feel ready I’ll be putting my hand up to play.”