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So, for someone like me who’s been asking for uniform pitch markings in SL for a long time (I appreciate there’s been bigger issues) - I think it might have finally happened! Either that or a massive coincidence. Warrington are now going with a single red lines on the 20 and 40 metre lines, as they do in the NRL. I’ve noticed today the Rhinos have done the same - last season both clubs would’ve had the double white/red line. It sounds insignificant but if there’s some joined up thinking on this then we could see an end to each club basically marking out the pitch however they see fit. Anyway, I know at least one other forum member who’ll appreciate this…the rest of you mind your business if it’s not your bag

Won’t start in 2024. Dominic Baloupe (taking over from Lacoste) - That included improving managerial, commercial and communication skills at clubs; building a viable and sustainable financial model and engaging with local authorities to improve facilities. Good news. Let’s hope it ain’t a pipe dream. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/french-elite-championship-set-for-revamp-as-nation-moves-towards-professional-top-flight-with-hopes-of-putting-sport-back-on-the-map

The referee wasn't to blame though it did seem as though it was going that way early on but Fev had enough possession and penalties to win three games after that. With the ease of scoring our first try it looked like Batley would be in for a long game. We were clueless taking wrong options every time. The club is in total apathy at what went on last season. It's filtered down to the fans. What we saw today is what we can expect in the future. Batley deserved their victory today.

Barra beat the Haven overseas select 18-12 away.

6978 Warrington vs Leigh Friendly

How many more times are we going to see Brown at full back, and Harrison on the wing? They are far better players in their proper positions, and the number of tries we concede down our right side because these two are not in the correct position is worrying. it isn't their fault, they play where they are picked. Also worrying is how we manage to concede a try in the last minute of every game.

Full strength Wakey side, Super League in all but name, full time and a budget three times greater than their nearest rival and it showed. They were bigger and faster, not only with the ball but in their thought process too. However, apart from a couple of soft tries you couldn’t question the effort from the Knights, and they never gave up. One or two positions need bolstering and our lack of size in the pack showed. Still players to come in and Hendo has stated he is using these pre league games like pre season. I don’t think we will be that far away against the majority of Championship teams come the start of the season proper. I can’t see anyone getting even close to Wakefield though, not even Fev or Toulouse.

Kings of Cumbria,again

Superb defensive performance and we were unlucky not to win. Moran and Chapelhow were superb in the middle. The wind was awful so playing any sort of rugby was very difficult. Paga was very dangerous at 6 with is running game. Whittel had a very good game off the bench. Tyrer made a good case to be picked on the wing next week until a dangerous tackle that might rule him out suspended. Rawsthorne had a dodgy start but grew into the game and had some cracking runs. Hate to talk about the ref but he was horrendous. Constantly looking to get involved in the game and the ptb errors were a joke by the end. Thought Parata, Kershaw and Leyland looked very good for London but hard to see them competing at Super League standard as we really could and should have beat them. Considering we didn't play Turner, Kopzcak, Wardle, Craven, Wildie or Mo of our best team and took off Astley, Ellis, Lawton and Taylor at half time not to return it was a hell of an effort. Should be a cracking game next week against a tough Barrow team.

Looked like we filled the South Stand (1800 capacity) as a few late comers were siphoned off into the East Stand.

I actually prefer the dual red/white line but yes being consistent on this sort of stuff should have happened years ago.

Well, well!! That was a team showing, every player, every non-player pushing for a shirt; coaches and staff, tremendous strength-sapping performance!! I'm first to complain that we don't spend but today shows that even if you do spend and pay great wages it'll never beat a team with a heart. Proud of those lads today.

Incredibly poor performance. Discipline and ball retention shocking. Huge amounts of pressure on their line and we couldn't break them down. Credit to their defense.

Wakefield have sold over 1,150 tickets for todays game Vs York With many travelling and paying on the gate too

See the Haven fans have got their knickers in a twist over Cresta's radio sheep dip interview.

Plenty to get our teeth in at the Dogs today

They're just 1.2 points short of being one of the gold-standard A-graded clubs. I think that says a lot more.

The issue here is that if it weren't for Derek Beaumont putting something on Twitter (which he didn't have to, so fair play to him) in response to a random tweet from someone else, the average RL follower wouldn't really have any idea that Leigh were set to jump up by 2.5 points, because the scoring system is so opaque. I still don't think there's a widespread realisation of how this might change the narrative of each RL season. We can all follow results and progress on the pitch, but I very much doubt this is going to be the last financial rabbit pulled from a hat that will massively override what has been happening on the field of play.

It is big because it has tradition and credibility with the public. Something our Ashes series once had. Look at the Ashes in the UK from 1982 to 1994 it was growing and had become a huge occasion. Attendances alone had grown for the tests from 67k in 1982 to 140k in 1994 and media interest was massive. Imagine if it had continued that growth what it would be today.

Well after the relentless forum peer pressure, I gave Grosse Point Blank a go. Loved it. Why has no one told me about this before.

Final score in game 2 USA 22- 52 Wales. Proud of our squad.

Very accomplished performance by trinity. If not for the one sided penalty count to York in that second half it could have been quite painful. Trinity looked very fit and very well drilled across the park. With Vagana and Bain to also come in and players like Croft, Kay, Franco waiting for their chance I’m hopeful for a positive season. I like York, good team improving gradually and likely be around playoffs. looking forward to Newcastle next.

As I was walking out a Wakefield fan was been sick up the wall not a good look and heard from another Wakefield fan that the trouble was between themselves not what you want to see at the rugby. Sounds like too much beer it’s a shame as Wakefield turned out in numbers but fair play to the Wakefield fans I spoke to they were not happy about the idiot’s hopefully they can identify them and deal with them accordingly.

In Yorkshire we wouldn't even need the mirror.

Well beaten by a much better side with skill and experience down the spine. Souter and Gaskell were both quality giving their other players the opportunity to shine, largely by an interesting tactic of running and passing the ball at the same time. Our pack was well beaten and this will probably become a theme this season, I'm sorry to say. The lack of availability of half-time draw tickets around the South Stand combined with some (but not all) Bradford fans being quite obnoxious made for a disappointing afternoon all round.

A really commited team performance. Josh Johnson really lifted the pack when he came on . Cian Tyrer and Okeefe great. Aldridge apart from his play the balls looked good. Moran excellent. Paga is all effort but he gets caught in posession way too much and his kicking game needs to improve. Long is a good person to have guide him. Impressive attendance , we would have got 300 at whitebank .

Moran certainly deserved the mom award

Nice touch today , a seat was reserved for john today at the back of the east stand showing a framed photo , replica shirt etc also chanting and applause when 76 mins was observed on the scoreboard , well done to all involved , R I P JOHN.

The ref last week showed how to control a game and let it flow. You never noticed him and the penalty count was 1-3. This guy was all about “look at me”. Problem was he missed so much he should pulled. Calling refs is not good as we need them, but we need them to apply the laws sensibly and fairly to both teams. I think this shows what strength in depth we have. London played their full team as far as I could see so this was a great performance. A great 80 minutes from Pat Moran!

Considering we played 2nd half without a lot of our new signings it was an excellent result and shows real strength in depth. Great game. Let's just practice playing the ball.

Thanks to whoever sorted the ridge/pothole in the car park. The old car appreciated it.

Think this is definitely being adopted then - Hull FC at home to Wigan was another one with the same. Actually suits the clubs who share with football teams as well I’d imagine, as surely easier to cover up a single red line.

Well done Batley.

First game since the widnes friendly last year. Walked away pleasantly impressed, especially considering it wasn't a full strength side. Good to see Lee Kershaw. I think that the performance stands us in good stead for 2024.

Single red lines on the 20 and 40 at York today.

Its an open draw.

Unless Hunslet somehow pull off a miracle next week - We are now out of the 1895 cup & York will more than likely get the best runners up spot

highlights from Wire v Leigh last night, footage isnt the best though. 2nd try from Leigh was a cracker.

The fact that nobody thinks 399 in the fourth innings in India is impossible shows you how much the dial has moved in the past couple of years.

Highlights.

I'm not convinced but even if something like this happened then it would need changes. For that and the system to have any credibility then the scoring for what it takes to be a B grade club would need to be much higher. Clubs with 8 points getting into SL defeats the whole purpose.

We need to be able to say we saw effort, interest, leadership and enthusiasm after the game tomorrow. Hopefully with a bit of good ability shown at times too. That would be a win for me.

If it hadn’t gone wrong by then, it had certainly all gone wrong when Meninga and the Kangaroos decided players would be wearing squad numbers instead of positional numbers in the ‘22 WC

Top 10 british boxers 1 joe calzaghe 2 carl froch 3 ricky Hatton 4 Lennox lewis 5 naz 6 Lloyd honeyghan 7 nigel benn 8 Ken buchanon 9 ricky burns 10 David haye

That's an interesting point, and one that crossed my mind when seeing the build-up coverage of today's game on BBC Breakfast. I'm a big advocate of RL turning big matches into events in the same way union does. I feel instinctively (and evidentially) that is the way to attract the new and lapsed fans we crave. The paradox is that for me, I just want to turn up 30 mins before kick-off, chat to adjacent fans about the game, watch it, celebrate victory then clear off home.

Think that's fair comment, we at Fev (like Batley perhaps) are very much at the start of a rebuild and whilst there's still plenty of quality dotted around the team there are also lots of newcomers and it's hard to say where we are at right now. This definitely isn't like the Fev teams of the last 2 years where we often steamrollered the opposition through sheer power but then that didn't get us very far at the end of season as you guys well know. We had too much for a pretty weak Hunslet team last week but we'd been "rolled" in James Ford's words by Bradford in our first pre-season game, despite the final score, and I doubt we will dominate field position against better teams like we have over the last two years, the stated aim of the club this season is a top 6 finish which is obviously setting sights a bit lower than previous years. We've often found Batley tough opponents even with what were on paper stronger teams than this so I'd expect a close game tomorrow.

Expect 3000+ from Leigh, sold over 2000 at 10am today - ask the bar to stock up

We were well beaten in 82 and the same in 86. The years, imo, when we lost being competitive, were when Jack Gibson introduced new training techniques, focused on strength, fitness and defense being key. Aussie teams bought into it, England carried on believing in training twice a week and the magic sponge. When Larder did his research and brought his coaching manual out it was late 80,s followed by the RFL coaching scheme and then players went full time the horse had bolted. We’ve come close since and again, imo, are very slowly catching up but the current attitudes to international RL and a pathetic quango we call the IRL are essential hurdles we need to get past.

There was a lot more than 50 Huddersfield fans at Barrow, there was 3 full coaches for a start, not to mention the independent travellers. And we all enjoyed a fabulous day out at a ground not many of them had been to before and a lot of us hadn't been for many years. That's what the cup should be about, not playing Salford or Wakefield for the 7th time in the same season.