The Phantom Horseman

Indeed, as you say it all depends on expectations. For instance, Makahesi Makatoa was a very solid and popular member of our good 2019 team, but he played nearly 50 NRL games over the next 2 seasons (for a good team too) and if he'd come to us on the back of 50 NRL games we might have almost been underwhelmed by his performances. By contrast Leilua was a big name who was a high-profile signing in terms of column inches, for me he made lots of good contributions for us as well as a few howlers but his previous career and (presumed) price tag meant a lot of fans were a bit underwhelmed by him.

I agree. Leaving aside Tanner as we don't really know what his situation is, we have Bussey, Addy, Springer, Massey, Kamano, Albert, plus Roberts who has looked okay when he's played, and Fishwick looks very steady too, with Tennison another possible DR option if injuries strike. I suspect we don't have much money for further signings at the moment anyway but at the moment we're doing ok in our bid to challenge for a top 6 spot so as you say I'm not sure we need to spend any money right now. Kamano has really impressed me, I think he has steadily improved as the season goes on and seems to be having a few more carries now where he gets plenty of yards after contact.

Turner Hardcastle Bussey

Back to the Halifax game...I though it was probably the fourth game in a row that we could well have lost but managed to eke out a win. I guess the good thing is that we are managing to find a way to win games, though we continue to look vulnerable in certain areas especially defensively out wide. Fordy is at least trying to address our weak areas as best he can, he's tried Bowes, Jones and Addy at half back, I think we all know none of them are the long-term answer but we are managing to win games still and we might have Reynolds available soon, and then Lacans a fair bit further down the line. He also tried switching Gale and Wynne to opposite sides presumably in an effort to shore up that right edge defence. ironically Gale whose decision making is usually quite good jammed in twice when he didn't need to, one led to Eden's try and on the other occasion Eden dropped the ball. Feel for Gaz a bit, having not had too many tryscoring chances lately he had to watch from the other wing as four fairly straighforward chances fell to Wynne on the wing where Gale has played all season, and then he gets sent off, under the current rules it probably was the correct decision but he has done that type of "body check" many times before and not been penalised for it, just the timing of it and getting his shoulder there before wrapping cost him. I thought Massey showed the value he should be able to bring granted a clear run of health, he played big minutes without showing signs of tiring too much considering his long absence. He's not the type of forward who will steamroller opponents or make highlight-reel plays but we have lacked a grafting, big-minutes forward since Lockwood retired and hopefully he'll be a steadying influence especially in defence and round the ruck now he's back. By contrast Albert played like he'd had a bit of a rocket up his backside following a couple of ordinary performances, ran in with a bit more venom and managed offloads on his first three carries, and he charged onto a short ball for his try. He was almost statuesque though when Keyes waltzed past him in the second half and he was taken off almost immediately afterwards, at the moment he looks a short-term impact middle but doesn't seem able to sustain his game for long periods. He looked to be limping a bit at the end so maybe that had an impact. Turner is our star turn at the moment and I don't think we would have won that game without him. He played the decisive part in four of our six tries and helped set up the position for another, as well as taking on most of the in-game kicking responsibilities. He's the only player in our team who looks capable of creating openings at the moment, he does have quiet periods like any half back but at this level if your half back is creating 1 or 2 tries each week he's probably doing his job, Chisholm was similar even at his peak in that he would often have a quiet day but produce a couple of bits of brilliance that would have a big impact and Turner looks out of the same mould to me. I hope we can hold on to him because even though he'd be a quota player he'd probably be appealing to one or two of the lower SL clubs. Think the season will continue all the way through with hard-to-predict games so it should continue to be a fun rdie.

I think you're right. He has posted on his Instagram today from Shell Cove (in Aus) which seems to suggest he's already back home.

This is exactly what is happening and I have said as much on the Trinity forum a few times this year, from well before the season started, there isn't another good team in the Championship by the standards of recent years to challenge them (hardly surprising when everyone else is spending 1/3 or less than what they are) and for future prospects they need to be measuring themselves against SL standards not the opposition they will face this year.As you mention, a decidedly vulnerable Fev team steamrollered much of the league last year.

I think that's an important point. The teams that have done well this season (Sheffield, Widnes, not sure about Swinton) seem to have not been quite as plagued by injuries as the likes of us, Halifax, Bradford and 1 or 2 others, and we don't have anything like the quality depth of last season.

I'm hoping that Hardy plays, but Gorman's main position is centre even though he has played full back and wing for us lately.

Corey Hall's at Cas now so wasn't an option on DR. Unless you meant Ryan.... As MLP says, it presumably will be either Hardy or Gorman at centre, though Hardy could fill in at back row with England perhaps switching to the bench too.

I agree with all of that but sadly it's where the game is at. SL teams are having to carry big squads with the number of injuries and suspensions they seem to get these days, nobody seems to think the reserves set up is worth much, and there are fewer players to go around the Championship clubs.

Indeed, and Hooley's straight into the squad published on the RFL website and presumably will play full back. Still no Springer, Hardcastle is back in the 21 which is very welcome but we'll have to see if he plays. Gorman is still in the squad so could switch to centre if Hardy's not ready yet. Fishwick the other DR player called up. Massey's included again, interesting to see if this is the week where he finally returns. Tanner missing again.

Makes sense with Caleb still presumably in NZ for a little while yet. He can kick goals too which is an added bonus.

You've heard many different stories about who was left out of SL clubs because a lot of clubs were. They might have had slightly different cases - for my money, leaving aside my own club, perhaps the biggest injustice was served on Keighley, who topped their division and should have been promoted but for the belated change to the rules. That decision, at the height of Cougarmania, had a massive impact on the club in terms of supporters, sponsors etc and they never really recovered from it, and there are some Championship clubs who see a similar likely impact on their club from the IMG system. And I'm not sure where to start with that phrase "they were just put into SL. with the message of 'good luck' ". There are plenty of clubs that would have loved to have been "just put into SL", especially nowadays with over 10 times the funding they get in Championship.

Is it safe to say you're relatively young? Many on here recall those days very well, including how quickly everything seemed to happen, the whole farrago surrounding mergers, and how the goalposts were moved very late in the day. As with any perceived injustice, the bitterness doesn't necessarily erode with time. If you weren't around to remember those days, it's perhaps best not to disaparage those who were?

It's quite relevant to a discussion over whether expansion clubs have historically been favoured over others, a question that you yourself asked. At the end of the 1994-95 season, London Broncos, who finished 4th in what was then the second division, were promoted to Super League (via the interim 1995-96 season), whereas the clubs that had finished 11th to 15th in division one were all relegated to the second tier, and the three clubs that finished above London in the second division were also kept in that division.