Whitehaven captain Scott McAvoy will be cheering his team on from the sidelines this weekend as he targets a return to the side later this month.

McAvoy is recovering from surgery on his knee and hopes to make himself available selection before the end of February.

"I'm about 90 per cent there," McAvoy said. "I'm on the last leg of my recovery and I'm trying to get a bit fitter. I'll need to push myself a bit more in training over the next few weeks I think.

"I'm just going to take things week by week but my main aim is to be available for selection before the end of the month."

With Haven travelling down to face Halifax for their Championship opener this weekend, McAvoy says that he can see people have raised their game in training in preparation.

"I would have loved to be part of the squad for the first game of the season," he continued. "We've had a good week in training and you can see the quality that we've got in our side.

"Everybody is looking to get a place in the side and I've noticed that players are putting that little bit more effort in.

"Everything about this year's pre-season preparations has flowed a lot better and we've had a lot of sessions together.

"We've trained for the last three months or so as a group and, apart from the weather, there hasn't been that much disruption.

"Everybody knows what they are doing now and we haven't gone off track at all. Overall, it's been a really good pre-season.

"We've got a tough start to the year but it might be the best time to play some of these teams.

"There's nothing to say we can't beat them either. I do think we'll pick up some results that might shock some people this year."