SKIPPER Danny King is backing his revamped Leicester side to go from chumps to champs!
The Watling JCB Lions tackle title favourites Poole at the Paul Chapman and Sons Arena, Beaumont Park, on Monday in their Premiership opener.
And after finishing bottom last October and scraping survival in a play-off battle with Sheffield, King says the new-look Lions are a team to be feared.
He said: “The team looks great and in the short amount of time we’ve spent together we’ve been getting on great.
“I know there’s a lot of racing to be done and anything can happen during the season but we look good and I believe if we all click we have a chance of challenging for the title.
“We’ve got strength in every department and if we all ride to our true ability then we’ll be hard to beat.”
Leicester give a Lions debut to new signing Michael Palm Toft on Monday and there’s a league debut for Martin Vaculik, Krystian Piszczek, Hans Andersen and James Sarjeant.
Poole, meanwhile, have brought in former Danish Grand Prix racer Peter Kildemand as cover for Chris Holder on a short term basis. The 2012 World Champion has personal issues to deal with.
LEICESTER: Martin Vaculik, Michael Palm Toft, Danny King, Krystian Pieszczek, Hans Andersen, James Sarjeant, Kyle Newman.
POOLE: Brady Kurtz, Kacper Woryna, Josh Grajczonek, Linus Sundstrom, Peter Kildemand, James Shanes, Mateusz Szczepaniak.
