Telford Tigers’ boss Tom Watkins expects returnees Jason Silverthorn and Jonathan Weaver to keep setting an example to his younger players next season.

The pair, who are both on multi-year deals with Telford, will again provide the backbone of Watkins’ EPL squad.

Silverthorn (above) is set to continue his role as captain of the Shropshire outfit, while Great Britain international Weaver will take up one of the two alternate captaincy roles.

Watkins said: “I don’t think you can ever have too many leaders in the dressing room, and both these guys lead by example.

“They want to win and hate to lose, and nobody enjoyed where we were last season.

“Jason and Jonathan epitomise the philosophy we want. They make everybody better at practice and I think that’s really important.

“When your best players are your hardest working guys, it makes everybody else a bit better.

“We have some young players that should look, watch and learn from the way they go about their business.

“Every day they’re on time, they’re ready, they warm up and that hard work shows through in performance at game time.”

Both Silverthorn and Weaver were part of the Telford side that won the EPL and British Challenge Cup in 2015, an achievement which Watkins will be looking to repeat next season.

He added: “For any team sport, it is vital to have that continuity with core personnel, whether they’re experienced guys or not.

“They know what the club expects and they’re comfortable with that. They play to those expectations and it doesn’t affect their performance.

“They’ve always had that expectation and can perform to a high level with that on their shoulders. Both are winners and we’ll work extremely hard to make improvements.”

(Image permission: Steve Brodie)