The Phantom Horseman

Where are Salford with their quota players? Would make more sense if they are keen to free a spot for another overseas player - Hellewell would be a downgrade on direct ability comparisons but is versatile, younger and (presumably) relatively cheap.

Probably not the time you'd choose to play Keighley - first season back, at their place in front of what is sure to be a lively crowd, and against a certain half back who you know is going to be all geared up to put on a show. But it's a cracking season-opener for the TV cameras, bring it on!

"Cam King's a decent pick up but his body is broken." "Nu Brown's a decent pick up but his body is broken"

That's a bit of a coup given he was linked with a few SL teams. 32 but would probably have got another SL gig if he wasn't a quota player.

Ben Hellewell has signed for Salford, confirmed by both clubs' social media. Fair play to him getting a SL gig as he wasn't a regular starter for us, solid enough player and am quite pleased he hasn't gone to another Championship club but not irreplacable.

Possibly, Shaw isn't infallible but he's right a lot more often than he's wrong and is by some way the most reliable source amongst the UK RL media fraternity.

I think the other thing to remember is that every year as the NRL market settles down and Aussie teams fill their last slots one or two good players become unexpectedly available to UK clubs as their last chance to secure a full-time deal. By December/January most SL clubs have filled their quota spots leaving opportunities for any Championship clubs able to offer such a deal. Last year obviously Leigh had the funds to mop up all those players but they won't be competing for them this year. So another Cam King/Nu Brown/Ryley Jacks could become available in time.

I don't know, but you'd think he would have been just about Bradford's highest earner when he came - did he have a job outside RL? - and he then signed a contract extension after just one game, a win against subsequently-relegated Dewsbury - which obviously doesn't look such a good decision for the Bulls now. His stock must have plummeted more than most Championship players this season, his form went down the pan, I don't think Kear (who was a big fan) leaving helped at all, and then he received the long ban for gouging (think he still has two matches left on that). Most Bradford fans on social media seem to want to get rid of him. Other than Toulouse, who desperately need half backs but don't seem to have much cash to spend, it's hard to see who might want him at anything other than a basement price, especially as everyone knows Bradford want to lose him. In the current financial climate, he's not likely to accept a net cut in wages when he's under contract, you'd have thought, so it might cost Bradford a lot to move him on.

Well a report rather than a rumour, but Matt Shaw suggests that Bradford have had to withdraw their offer to hooker Curtis Davies because they still haven't found a resolution to the issue of how to get Dec Patton off the payroll. This does beg the question, if they can't afford Davies - whose last 3 gigs were with Villeneuve, Workington and Whitehaven - how on earth could they afford Jack Walker? Hard not to think it's cost Leeds a fair bit to get him off the books.

Nu Brown set to play for Samoa against England after Danny Levi wasn't named in their squad.

Yes, brings back memories of when MC sacked Jon Sharp, saying he hadn't enjoyed watching the team's playing style, and brought in John Duffy whose reputation was as an inventive and attack-oriented coach. The obvious difference being that Sharp was a bit of a cult hero with Fev fans whereas McDermott definitely wasn't.

Having seen what's happened to Newcastle since last season, I bet you would!

I do hope that the traditional Adrian/Lachlan Lam Championship deal of buy the father, get the son free applies here

Leon Pryce is our new assistant coach judged on our Twitter feed https://twitter.com/FevRoversRLFC/status/1590387625042804739

As for the match-ups for the Bash, Matt Shaw reckons Fev will play York. That would leave some interesting decisions elsewhere...specifically for Toulouse. Back to playing London, or would it be a clash between the relegated team and last year's beaten finalists Batley, with the Bulldogs' local derby no longer a possibility?

Mea culpa though I did bring in the subject of promotion/relegation because of its alleged relevance to Toulouse's recruitment. So back to that subject. The next couple of months is going to be very interesting for followers of Championship RL. From a very early stage long before last season started most people accepted that 2 teams would finish clear of the remainder in the table and that turned out to be right, but with Fev unconvincing under McDermott and losing to Batley in the semis, then getting a new coach, and with Toulouse looking potentially a fair bit weaker than 2 years ago (though they should still be leading contenders), plenty of clubs will feel they can have a real crack at top 2 in 2023.

Matt Shaw reckons we will be the team that gets to play a second "away" fixture at York via the Bash. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/summer-bash-york-rugby-league-25475280 "And of course, it means York get an extra home game to every other side in the competition. It's believed Andrew Henderson's side will play Featherstone at the Bash which, for balance, is the toughest opponent right now on paper, but it's hardly an ideal scenario when so much is on the line this year."

Yes, although those gradings won't be made until 2024 for the 2025 season. So whoever wins the Championship next year goes up. The devil is going to be in the detail in terms of what the criteria are. But that's a different topic.

There have been a few interviews with Houles floating around lately where he has made a lot of wanting to recruit French players because IMG have indicated they will have a minimum quota for French teams in SL at some stage, but I can't help thinking he's making a virtue out of necessity. They wanted Thomas Lacans (as did Catalans) and there have been a few other players who you might have expected to be Toulouse targets who have ended up either in England or in Elite 1. There has been a bit of speculation on the French RL forums that Toulouse are keeping their spending low this year because they think they will get an A grade by IMG, I think this forum will be a lively place if that happens!

Think that's a pretty reasonable assessment, there were times in the Batley game when he seemed to be ad-libbing and the players around him clearly weren't on the same wavelength as him, by contrast when he used to play with Kheirallah at Toulouse they always seemed to be in sync. Hopefully a full pre-season and extended playing time will see him link up more consistently with his team mates, there were still moments when he showed his class such as the double-pump passes for Leilua's try at Halifax and Hardcastle's try in the semi final.

I think PNG will be upset here in that it sounded like the whistle blew before the try was scored.

That ship has sailed though hasn't it, Chizzy will be playing for Keighley next year. Must admit I'm a bit puzzled by the number of Fev fans who are ready to write off Ford. He's a proven quality player at this level, a regular nominee for the end-of-season awards, and he's only had 7 starts for us. Granted he was a bit rocks and diamonds in the games he did play in but he showed plenty of glimpses of how good he is at putting teammates through a gap (something we lacked from Smith and Jacks in my opinion) and he's the sort of player who needs to build up an understanding with those around him. For sure the jury is still out on whether he's a success for Fev or not but I hope our fans get behind him. I was trying to think who Ford reminds me of and then it hit me, I remember when I was a lad hearing fans on the terraces getting on John Newlove's back all the time and I think he was a similar player, tall and skinny and with a languid, almost casual way of going about things, but he was a quality player who read the game very well and for me Ford's from the same mould.

Which was well established long before he was given that 5-year deal.

Looking at where the squad is at the moment, we already have a strong-looking group of 21 players and are likely to see more additions over the next 2-3 months. On paper, we are again going to have one of the strongest squads in the league, but obviously games aren't played on paper. I think most neutrals would have said our 17 in the semi final against Batley was stronger "on paper", but they outplayed us for much of the game. So where do we need to improve? I finally sucked it up and watched the Batley game again (couldn't stomach doing it until now). It didn't get any easier viewing second time round. The thing that stood out was our inability to complete tackles properly, either because we allowed offloads or we couldn't put the man to the ground and the ref called held. So yes I know it's a bit sad but I kept count of how often this happened for both teams. In the whole game, we had just one instance in the game of the tackle being completed whilst our ball-carrier was still standing, and two offloads, both of which were just passes as the ball carrier came into contactwith the defender really. But for Batley there were 13 occasions where the tackle was completed without the ball carrier going to ground, and on a further 13 occasions they offloaded in the tackle. 17 of those 26 combined occasions came in the first half when they really won the game and that was a major factor in the result. We had a big pack but our contact and technique just wasn't good enough defensively and for me that was our biggest problem all season, yes the attack was clunky and a bit unimaginative but we racked up plenty of points, it's the defence we really need to improve., we leaked yardage and points all season. We've hired a coach whose reputation is based on attacking play and I'm confident we will score loads of points in 2023, but if we want to be a dominant team at this level I reckon it's the defence that needs to improve.