CROSS Keys may have finished in the top half of the Principality Premiership for the last six seasons but they insist they are underdogs for their opener against new boys Merthyr at Pandy Park, writes Chris Kirwan.

Keys narrowly missed out on a third successive trip to the play-offs last season and will be quietly confident of being in the mix again after retaining the core of their squad, as well as adding a smattering of burgeoning talent.

However, head coach Greg Woods is quick to pass on the favourites tag for their opener against the Ironmen, who romped to the Championship title and are bank-rolled by millionaire Stan Thomas.

Merthyr boast a powerful squad, have proven coaches in Lee Jarvis and Dale McIntosh and have invested heavily to transform their Wern headquarters with a plastic pitch. They might be Premiership novices but many expect them to have a title tilt.

“The amount of resources they’ve put into their infrastructure and squad, the pressure is all on them to perform and we can’t wait to welcome them to Pandy Park,” he said.

“The new boys are in town, it’s the haves against the have-nots and we can’t wait. Merthyr have a formidable squad but we have a settled one.

“They are coached by two experienced people and will be a good team, but we are going to be very competitive again this season and want to get our season off to a good start.”

Keys were the form team in the Premiership heading into Christmas last year only for a raft of postponements to derail their season.

They need to repeat that effort to ensure that they aren’t victims of the new January split as a typical late season charge would only lead to them topping the bottom half.

Woods said: “This format probably doesn’t suit the Keys because we normally don’t get going until after Christmas!

“You just have to start well with this new format because you will be in that bottom half and playing catch-up if you don’t get it right in the first five or six games.”