Blind side johnny

I was intrigued by the attendance figure in LE - 1485. There must have been a fair few in the boxes.

Kicking out at Farrell apparently - stupid, and the second time this season that his yellow card will have cost us. I thought that, overall, it was a staggeringly disappointing display from start to finish. I don't know anything about our present injury situation but the selection looked a bit odd, almost as if we expected to lose and were resting players so they could be fit in time fo the Sheffield game. We conceded a really soft try in five minutes because we had forgotten how to tackle, then another when we decided to pull a tackled player over the line and give him a try. Somhhow or other we fought back and went ahead at half time against a ragged looking Batley side. All it needed was a ten minute spell of determination and concentration and we would wear them down. Instead we decided to revert to our old strategy of winning without the ball - 11 penalties, most of them in the second half, knock-ons left, right and centre, and aimless kicks condemned us to defeat, and made Batley look like a good side at times. At the end it looked like we had given up and simply couldn't be bothered. Some of the referee's calls might have looked odd but players have to deal with this (I've watched the game for a fair few years and cannot recall one single example of a referee changing his mind because a player has a go at him); instead we chose to sulk. Sad to say that not many of our players came out of this with much credit after this game. Never mind, Sheffield next in our quest for 8th place and the riches that will bring.

As long as two go down then, yes. Otherwise......................

I bet Owlcoats looked more and more attractive as the day wore on.

Clubs still don't know what their budgets will be next year. Until the format is agreed with SLE then most chairmen and coaches are just guessing. Batley have always been most careful to avoid spending what they haven't got, and long may that continue.

I could have sworn it was Jouffret - just shows what I know.

Glad you read it John - you did notice the sublime to ridiculous comment? It was a complaint about this particular episode which generally fell well short of the standards of the others, so if you want constructive there it is: produce shows like the Lindsay/Elstone one with new ideas rather than turning out the RL dinosaurs who simply help to reinforce the (hopefully incorrect) perceptions of our sport. OK?

My understanding was that TWP made it plain that they couldn't operate their current model under the restrictions of the Championship SC, so it was equalised with that for SL. Clubs have still had to demonstrate their true earning capacity for the year before their actual cap was approved for the season. (A complicated and fairly boring process.) I may, of course, be wrong.

Well, what else would you prefer to be doing (being realistic, no fantasies)?

I thought that this might just be a case of squad rotation, even though they all have a rest next weekend. Or maybe the full-backs crashing tackle on Teanby has still left him a bit shaken..

He's in the shop window, don't you think?

Mock the afflicted and make them rich? What a great mantra.

OK sublime is probably a bit of an exaggeration but this week's Backchat really plumbed the depths. Is Danny Lockwood anything more than RL's Alan Brazil? Ten years behind the times and dressing like a 40 year old lothario, but with nothing really constructive to say other than what you might hear in any Dewsbury tap room. Sadly the other contributors had nothing more to add, leaving our sport, once again, looking like it is represented by intellectual pygmies. Or is it just me?

My modesty is immeasurable HS.

Then you may have been wrong in your phylosophy.