The Blues Ox

You should be disappointed it would have been the highlight of Bradford's season Fax losing at Fev in the semi.

To be fair all week I had said it were a one off game and were not counting my chickens about beating York, although I did think we would given the 2 previous results, and that's why overall I was not too disappointed and can look back at the season and think we have had a good one. This. I honestly think Leigh could play this game with 12 players and still win they are that good. Why would I not? There was literally nothing in the first two games that suggested York were capable of beating us and people thinking York would win were few and far between so it's not like I were on my own but that's the great thing about sport.

Speaking to a few York fans after the game Sunday they were talking about it been their best performance of the season. In my view if Fax had of played like that against Leigh if we were to meet again then we would not have got within 50 of them and thats considering I thought we played pretty well over at Leigh and still got spanked. Its going to be another tough day for York Im afraid.

Fev by 22 similar thinking to distantdog in that its a game too far for Batley.

Honestly I think if York can hold Leigh under 50 then they will have done well.

Thank you for all your concern. The Ox is totally fine this morning although I do have a sore head. Fair play to York I thought they were the better team and for us it was just one of those days where everything we tried seemed to go further to us losing the game rather than winning it. I thought the Tangata no try summed up our game, it was literally harder for him not to score than it was for him to score. Ive said during the week that my big fear about playing a full team against Fev last week was that it could effect us this week and I think that played a part and turned out to be a big mistake as York looked quicker in every aspect of the game. As it is its another good season in the bank and I think we are closer to Fev than we were last season and have put a little bit of distance between ourselves and the chasers in the normal season and hopefully we can build on that next season after keeping most of the squad together. On a personal level my amateur team has a big semi final next week and I were worried that unless we got the late kick off I would have to miss it and the pee up afterwards so every cloud and all that.

It was why I asked a honest question because I thought I were genuinley missing something so was a little bit surprised by the frosty response I got.

Yeah I saw what he said and think he has got totally mixed up about what is happening but I think he is right that the final funding is decided after the playoffs or at least that is what I remember the RFL saying unless someone has seen a change to that. Obviously Leigh always have the lowest ranked team so that never changes but I think funding is still to be decided?

I imagine at that point in the game with Leeds looking like Winners, Leeds would have done all that they could to make sure he either passed the test or did not take the test knowing he would miss the grand final. The way he were on the field there isn't any chance he passed the test without some other goings on.

He was talking about the funding for final positions rather than who would play Fev or Leigh but I believe he has that wrong as well as we will always end up with more funding than the loser of the Barrow V Batley game.

Well according to some the new stand was going to make Wakefield one of the most attractive propositions in the league hence my question. Im glad all these years after framing the future that Wakey are finally doing something with the ground.

I think hes retired.

What am I missing with this new stand? How come Wakey are suddenly going to be cash rich when its finished?

At the risk of getting egg on my facing or jinxing anything, what is your thinking behind this? My big worry is we may be tired after the Fev game and be a bit lethargic and we end up in a bit of an arm wrestle but Ive not seen anything in our first two games that suggest York can win this one let alone win comfortably. Its a one off game though and anything can happen.

We chased the game from the middle of the first half, that's not the close that I would be looking for. Id be hoping for 4-6 points in it all the way through the game before hitting the 60 minute mark. As I mentioned before Fev blew us off the park for 20 minutes in the first half and that ultimatley was enough to win them the game despite the tiredness that Brian Mc described in his interview afterwards. For any team barring Leigh, the danger with Fev is that they are too big and strong early on and capable of taking the game away from you. Its a massive ask to chase a game against such a good side.