Tom Watkins keen to kick on at Telford Tigers

A 7-6 overall defeat to the Surrey outfit brings to an end a remarkable season of improvement for Telford, after they spent the first three months in last place.

The introduction of new owners Red Hockey has no doubt inspired many of those changes, but there were marked improvements across the squad.

Watkins must now begin a long summer of recruitment – and decide which of those players on short-term contracts he wants to retain.

"We'll start putting names in places, which is the start of a long process throughout the off-season," Watkins said. "We now know where we need to be, and what key signings need to be made. That sort of thing just takes time.

"It is essential we get the right people in to be part of the club. They have got to fit in with our structure and how we want to play the game."

That campaign of player signings will be the first time Watkins has had funds to make quality summer additions to his squad. And although there are a number of targets on the table, any new arrivals will be closely scrutinised by his coaching team.

He added: "There are guys in the team that I want to keep, so we need to look hard at every player and think, is there someone better out there?

"If there is, we will look at them, but if not, then we will improve the players we bring back.

It is up to us to identify the guys we want to retain and be part of the fantastic opportunity we have here, thanks to Wayne Scholes and Red Hockey."