THE Knights were drawn away to Oldham in the Challenge Cup this week and I think it's a pretty good draw for us. It's going to be tough but we're capable of going through if we play well.

If you are wanting a big gate and a big pay-day it's not the best draw, but there aren't that many clubs who could guarantee a massive gate, such as a Leeds, Bradford or Hull, who are probably the three biggest crowd-pullers, and in any case I'm not sure that's what we're looking for at this stage.

I think we'd prefer to have a healthy run in the Cup and get as far as we can.

That depends on how you play and who you get - if you keep away from the big-guns and play well on the day you can sneak through - and that is all part of the beauty of the Cup, as is the chance to ply your trade against all different levels of competition.

Oldham are in the division above us but I think we have the ability to win the tie. They have started the season a bit loose but have recruited a few players, particularly up front, and have got stronger and they had quite a convincing win over Sharlston, who are a well respected amateur side.

Talking of the amateur game, the standard in there has gone up over the years. I don't watch too many amateur matches but the ones I've seen at the top level are of a high quality and it's getting better all the time.

Every year there are professional teams getting knocked out of the Cup by amateur clubs and, while there are some walkover games, there are others that are very close. We saw at the weekend Wath Brow beat Dewsbury and Sheffield Eagles were run close by Waterhead, while it was tough for us against Elland. We put 50 points past them but we had to work hard to get the result.

The amateur teams have come a long way. They're well drilled and well coached. They probably train not much less than the semi-professionals, maybe one evening a week less, though the difference is probably in the quality of the player. Professional clubs look to take the best players who we think will make the grade at this level.

Elland were a good side, they had a lot of size and their completion rate in the game was actually higher than ours. However, we had a bit too much pace and were a bit too skilful for them at times.

Wath Brow's reward for beating Dewsbury, meanwhile, is a trip to Toulouse and yesterday I spoke about that game to Tommy Gallagher - a player I had at Leeds Rhinos Academy, who also had a loan spell at the Knights in 2003.

Tommy is now with Toulouse and while Wath Brow are no doubt a good team, he reckons his side will probably have a bit too much for them over there. Wath Brow might have wanted a big pay-day against a Super League club but hopefully they'll enjoy their trip.

I'm sure their match in southern France will be financed by the RFL, by the way, as such trips could otherwise put a massive financial strain on the likes of semi-pro or amateur clubs.

The French teams have done well this year. St Gaudens lost to Batley but UTC and Pia had big wins against Gateshead and Skolars, while Toulouse beat Blackpool 58-18, all away from home. It will be interesting to see how far they go.

Updated: 08:39 Wednesday, March 16, 2005