RoughyedsFan_merged

The unforced errors towards the end of the first half were very costly unfortunately, in ridiculous heat against a full time team, we couldn’t really afford to make too many mistakes. It’s to the players credit they hung in and as above it is extremely frustrating that during our best spell, a ridiculous refereeing decision resulted in us penned in our own half for 10 minutes and totally killed any chance we had. The tries at the end were an unfair reflection really as the game was done and the players were out on their feet.

I get Wembley is the big draw, but is another option not to get the round done a bit quicker and squeeze it in to magic weekend? Guessing there would still be a cost issue involved though.. It would fill the gap we had before the first Saturday game this year. A 14 team SL probably ends that plan anyway should it come to fruition.

A 33 year old winger on massive money is not the answer.

Very good performance. I was concerned early as we were up against it with the wind and struggled to get out, we needed to defend well and the players really dug in during that spell. It makes a huge difference having two guys on the field at half back with so much experience to take hold of a game. Drinkwaters kicks were holding up so Craven took over and managed that first half perfectly, we were able to score basically every time we went forward. Musgrove if he stays out of trouble is obviously too good at this level. Davies was much better this week in his more natural position and Lannon had a strong game too. Fantastic debut for Pons who looks like he'll good at both ends of the pitch. You are left wondering what could have been last week if we had Pons and Agoro on the wing, they made a huge difference. Can't change that now of course.

Yeah, seems to be the talk.

Obviously having players back from injury and less square pegs in round holes helps, but Craven massively improves us as a team. Musgrove been very good, but we all knew there’d be no concerns about him on the field…

Already showed for what it is last weekend. A team incapable of matching the speed and intensity of the opposition, whilst many of the older players are sat on the treatment table.

These signings are not the right way going forward in my opinion, but I do agree we can only assess when we know the full squad. We need a much more even balance next season, we can't go on with guys the wrong side of 30 in every key position. I just hope there are more keys like Farnworth in the pipeline who is in my opinion, our best forward by a mile. Young, aggressive and hasn't spent long spells unfit. If Lomax came in to play full back with Drinkwater at 7, that's two of the three key positions in our attack that would be lacking the energy and speed Featherstone beat us with at the weekend. PLT for all his faults at least frightens a defence with how quick he is. In a league we can't get promoted from, there's no reason not to be promoting younger players.

I think unfortunately the injuries have shown up the reality of a lot our players and their liimitations. PLT as a full back can't tackle and often just lets a high ball bounce, he's great taking the line on at times but his decision making there can be questionable. We need to look at more pace and youth out wide for next season, credit to Turner as he'll always play injured and step up, but he received the ball twice yesterday at the start of the second half when we were playing quicker to get back in to it, and he just had to pass straight away as he can't run. Dudson is either injured or totally finished, letting players run past him yesterday and refusing to drop on loose balls, bizarre. Not sure if the other twin is injured? He should be starting ahead of him for me. Farnworth is a star player and we need more like him and in a similar age profile. He was the only one yesterday who could match the aggression of their pack. The other big names, Ashurst and Milner, are also letting us down and massively underperforming. They just look old and tired to me, again, just unable to match the intensity of Featherstone. Too many yesterday just looked miles off it from minute one, it's either injuries or guys at the wrong end of their careers who simply can't be relied on to turn up week in week out and perform. The recruitment next season needs a major rethink.

Would be great for the town if both get there. That said, they’re within a week of each other, and the football getting there would probably massively reduce the attendance as far as stragglers are concerned for the 1895 game. If only we make it I’d be interested to see just how many go down, nobody comes out of the woodwork quite like Oldhamers do!

We were fortunate to beat Featherstone last month due to goal kicking. We’ve had even more injury issues since then and a couple of bad losses albeit agains the stronger sides in the league. I just think it’s two sides on opposite trajectories at this point of the season. It will be close and hopefully the home support can be the deciding factor, but the injuries at centre and wing and constant reshuffling have meant we can no longer stop teams scoring, conceded 26+ points in four of the last five games…

I can’t see anything other than a Featherstone win, sadly.

Be pleasently stunned if we win that game next week. It feels like ourselves and Fev are on completely different trajectories as we enter the middle of the season. Not sure on their injury situation, but I doubt anybody in the league comes close to ours. The early season power and experience in the backs has been decimated. Johnson/Agoro, Sambou, Thornley and Dixon is as good as you’ll get at this level and we might not see a single one of them next weekend. Any of the better sides in this league will have a field day with us defensively as it stands and we’ve lost the firepower to outscore sides.

If Forber is not going to be available for a run of games, we need to be replacing Wildie more permanently. The difference to the speed of our attack with a proper 9 is so crucial.

MacDonald was an ego signing. He was always due to be here for three games, he managed two. It’s extremely concerning as far as the squad goes that we’ve been forced this season already to draft two wingers in from Wigan because we had nobody in one game and then last night had 5 second rowers on the pitch and a stand off on the wing. You can’t get promoted out of this league, so I’m unsure what the fixation on expensive older players past their best is? We’d be far better served with a younger squad of promising players, with a few experienced players in there.