22 replies to this topic

[duffymoon]

Is anyone interested in travel to Whitehaven on sunday ?,we are considering hireing a minibus.

[PhillH]

It looks as though the outcome will be crucial come the end of the season.

In my view its fair to say that currently Whitehaven have a stronger side than Dewsbury in several areas - certainly have a better set of three quarters than Dewsbury (Calvert and McAvoy for definite would walk into Warren Jowitt's side). They had no game last weekend, so will be freshened up, will have focussed on this match for the last 2 weeks and are bound to raise their game. A more inventive side than Dewsbury too with the likes of Palfrey and Sice.

The Lions will need to be up for this one.

[Shizonamy]

I agree Phil, this realistically is the first big test of the season, we need to make sure we go and not get complacent.
We win and winning the league is most definitely on the cards, lose and all is not lost but we will have to beat Keighley at least once and of course we play Whitehaven three times, so beat them again, away again!!!

Does anyone know of how to access the Whitehaven website I just keep getting the following :Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
Your ban is not set to expire.

[Blakemore]

How much would the trip cost?

[stotty160]

i will have at least two spare places maybe three. anyone interested in sharing fuel costs contact phil on 07733068419

[Shizonamy]

Does anyone know of how to access the Whitehaven website I just keep getting the following :Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
Your ban is not set to expire.

[Marrafan]

Does anyone know of how to access the Whitehaven website I just keep getting the following :Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
Your ban is not set to expire.

To access the Haven site at www.havenfans.co.uk you need to join. Anyone can register and join there are quite a few fans from other sites already on there

Look forward to seeing a few of you on Sunday, Swinton were always our bogey team hopefully that will change this week!!!

[Shizonamy]

It says I'm banned and it's not set to expire!!!

What the.......................!!!!!!!

[Bryce]

Big game tomorrow, easily the biggest test of the season so far. Time for the Lions to show what they're made of!

Mort
Foxen
Dodd
Thompson
Hurst
Ainscough
Watson
Morrison
Smith
Wilson
Cunniffe (not heard if he's banned, hawkyard in his place if he is)
Wingfield
Joseph

Ashall
Hawkyard
Paterson
Flooks

[class of 63]

Definitely this is a big game for us - quite simply - ball in hand we can win - as against, if not all teams in our league - but we need to defend - we know we can let tries in - but the old saying if we score more than we let in we are okay.
Coming back to the Warrington game, as said above we can let tries in - and as we saw on Friday they are probably the best in scoring - lets hope we have enough of the ball to0 show how good we are with it - but realistically we know they are going to score when they have it - that is super league, but we will still enjoy our 15 minutes of fame - lets just hope we don't have a knock on effect for the big game against Oldham - buts lets just enjoy this time

[PhillH]

Big game tomorrow, easily the biggest test of the season so far. Time for the Lions to show what they're made of!

Mort
Foxen
Dodd
Thompson
Hurst
Ainscough
Watson
Morrison
Smith
Wilson
Cunniffe (not heard if he's banned, hawkyard in his place if he is)
Wingfield
Joseph

Ashall
Hawkyard
Paterson
Flooks

Massive game today, Warrington is just a jamboree - today is the real deal. This and 4 or 5 other games over the course of the season will determine if the Lions gain automatic promotion or face the play offs, (not withstanding the RFL tinkering with the league structure again at the end of the year). Would love to be there, but its a bit too far for me at the minute.

Whitehaven will be up for this one in a major way. I'm pretty confident the Lions ought to be able to contain their forwards, my concern is more what happens as and when Haven put the ball wide, or Lewis Palfrey puts it in the air towards the flanks. Key to winning is likely to be denying Haven the field position they would need to play in an expansive way.

I suspect Cunniffe is free to play as his name didn't appear in the RFL list of disciplinary cases this week, deserves to be dropped really after his very silly actions at Dewsbury but the injuries to Neil Rigby and Tommy Gallagher restrict the options.

Patterson will need to start appearing on the team sheet soon, or else he'll probably go the same way as Carl Forber.

[Urge]

According to the Leigh board Danny Meekin has signed so maybe he'll get a chance today?

[mark richardson]

Cunniffe needs to be dropped?!! He has been outstanding all season. He deserves a flipping medal.
And Meekin will be a great addition,big strong lad who did well at the end of last year. Think we really missed a trick not trying to keep Anthony Mullally too.

Edited by mark richardson, 15 May 2011 - 04:28 PM.

[PhillH]

Cunniffe needs to be dropped?!! He has been outstanding all season. He deserves a flipping medal.

Dale Cunniffe very nearly blew the prospect of the Warrington match. Running in and fighting 5 minutes from the end of a Challenge Cup tie where the Lions were well in control was stupid, as was needlessly throwing the ball away to hand Dewsbury a chance to attack.

Lo and behold he dished out a volley of punches again today just before half time, which arguably has cost a win!

His discipline is awful.

[mark richardson]

In that match his discipline was awful for a split second. Your generalisations are ridiculous. Same as for Foxen.
I think you are being deliberately contrary Phil thriving on the controversy your comments create. Cuniffes had a great season. And a thrown punch and a bit of red mist isnt unheard of on a rugby pitch,especially in such a competitive atmosphere as that match.
The teams discipline as a whole is cause for concern,but hey its not doing us any harm,maybe we`ve been too soft for too long.

[Blakemore]

If cuniffe had have got sent off it would have cost us of course but cuniffe is a big player I wouldn't say a little bit of red mist that went unpunished cost us the game. What about Dodd when ge should have been sent off for taking someones head off? Point is every team lacks disapline but we are unbeaten so enjoy it because we haven't played this well for a while but your still finding alot of faults and very critical of players eg foxen whom incidentally on the radio they described him as a huge winger with lots of pace and unique to our league as he's such a talent and that was Whitehaven commentators there's no denying that he needs to practises under the high ball but you don't see re good sides of his game. Enjoy the season we are playing better than I've ever seen.

2011 year of the lion

[PhillH]

In that match his discipline was awful for a split second. Your generalisations are ridiculous. Same as for Foxen.
I think you are being deliberately contrary Phil thriving on the controversy your comments create. Cuniffes had a great season. And a thrown punch and a bit of red mist isnt unheard of on a rugby pitch,especially in such a competitive atmosphere as that match.
The teams discipline as a whole is cause for concern,but hey its not doing us any harm,maybe we`ve been too soft for too long.

Just because an opinion is different to yours doesn't make it ridiculous. I tell it as I see it, you need to look elsewhere if you want to find posts designed for political expedience. Question: Why is it very easy to point out masses of quotes from a broad range of people saying the team needs to improve both its discipline and its defence, yet - to some it is beyond the pale to give an opinion on specifically where these weaknesses reside? Its as though everyone knows there is a problem, but either cannot see where the root cause is, or just have ostritch syndrome and take offense if anyone talks specifics.

This is small club mentality in action. Look on forums of the bigger sides - debates on the relative strengths and weaknesses of players go on all the time. Its as though some Swinton Lions followers believe everyone associated with the club should be grateful to the players no matter if they perform to their best or not, after all we are only "little Swinton", we have no real right to win at Dewsbury or Whitehaven. What utter balls! This side ought to go to these places respectful of the opposition and the bread and butter stuff needed to win rugby league matches yes, but fully confident that if the side plays to its best it will deservedly win.

Expectation levels of this 2011 Swinton Lions side ought to be higher than you portray. Its stack full of players that have plied their trade at higher levels of the game with a good degree of success for most of their careers. It has a lot of depth with a range of options for every position, to the extent guys like Carl Forber and Bruce Johnson have not had a chance to play. It has a very nice balance of youth and experience. The coach has an excellent track record and again spent a long time achieving reasonable success at higher levels. Yes there are big issues off the field that the club needs to progress, but every other club in Championship One and quite a few in the Championship would gladly trade playing squads and coach with Swinton Lions right now. To finish anywhere other than top of the league should be seen as an under-performance.

I guarantee three or four years down the line, if this team does not end this season as league winners, the mantra will become - "You know, that side in 2012 really should have done better - we had so many good players back then"!

[marshy1]

Just because an opinion is different to yours doesn't make it ridiculous. I tell it as I see it, you need to look elsewhere if you want to find posts designed for political expedience. Question: Why is it very easy to point out masses of quotes from a broad range of people saying the team needs to improve both its discipline and its defence, yet - to some it is beyond the pale to give an opinion on specifically where these weaknesses reside? Its as though everyone knows there is a problem, but either cannot see where the root cause is, or just have ostritch syndrome and take offense if anyone talks specifics.

This is small club mentality in action. Look on forums of the bigger sides - debates on the relative strengths and weaknesses of players go on all the time. Its as though some Swinton Lions followers believe everyone associated with the club should be grateful to the players no matter if they perform to their best or not, after all we are only "little Swinton", we have no real right to win at Dewsbury or Whitehaven. What utter balls! This side ought to go to these places respectful of the opposition and the bread and butter stuff needed to win rugby league matches yes, but fully confident that if the side plays to its best it will deservedly win.

Expectation levels of this 2011 Swinton Lions side ought to be higher than you portray. Its stack full of players that have plied their trade at higher levels of the game with a good degree of success for most of their careers. It has a lot of depth with a range of options for every position, to the extent guys like Carl Forber and Bruce Johnson have not had a chance to play. It has a very nice balance of youth and experience. The coach has an excellent track record and again spent a long time achieving reasonable success at higher levels. Yes there are big issues off the field that the club needs to progress, but every other club in Championship One and quite a few in the Championship would gladly trade playing squads and coach with Swinton Lions right now. To finish anywhere other than top of the league should be seen as an under-performance.

I guarantee three or four years down the line, if this team does not end this season as league winners, the mantra will become - "You know, that side in 2012 really should have done better - we had so many good players back then"!

Phil I can't quite come to terms with your opening line " I say it as I see it".....how can that be when for the vast majority of your match posts you are relying on either newspaper radio or other third party commentary. Todays game was a real battle played in good spirit and yes we had a couple of small flare ups, Whilst you could comment that Cuniffe coulkd have cost us the game then so could Phil Joeseph when he reacted midway through the second half. You will always get instances of players giving penalties away due to the very nature of the game.

I think most spectators who were there today would agree the lads gave there all and had Morts 1st kick been a yard to the left we would have taken the spoils.

[Bryce]

I keep hearing people saying 'Haven were the better team. I'm probably biased but when you look at the facts it's hard to see how they were better than us today. They lead for a grand total of 10 minutes compared to our 43. They had more penalties and I'm pretty sure they came up with more handling errors than us. We also had to travel for 3+ hours as well as the 'Haven players having a week off! And they still only managed to snatch a draw in the last 10 mins. I think some people need to start giving more credit to the Lions for that performance, and if not spit your dummy out and take a look at the league table..rant over, see you all at Warrington!!!

[Bryce]

Oh and to comment on individual performances, Ashall was my MOM, had a hand in all 3 first half tries if I remember correctly and completely changed the game with his pace. Wilson, Morrison and Hawkyard all had massive games. Ainscough was class and I don't even need to mention Mr Mort, 14 points, brilliant.