The Blues Ox

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.

Ah that probably reads a little wrong, I did mean next season as a result of this years P & R.

Yeah if any team looked out of it then it were Fev, Brian Mc pretty much said the same in his interview afterwards. We looked more the fresher team at the back end of the game and I have said before if we can be close to Fev at the 60 minute mark then we will beat them. The problem is they are more than capable of blowing teams away because of their size and power before that point which is what happened in the first half on Sunday. The big question is how much did the game take out of us for the York playoff game. Im more confident now that if we can actually make the semi final that we can beat Fev, their form has been sketchy and they are pretty much at full strength at this point, Fax have still some players to come back in and I think we have it in us to play better than we did on Sunday where as Fev this may be as good as they get. Edit: From a psychological point of view the loss may have done us some favors as Im sure there was a lot of talk after the game about how they feel we can beat Fev, again Grix pretty much said the same in his interview, where as if we had managed to win maybe a chance of over confidence stepping in. Anyway I remeber what happened in the 2010 season.

WEDNESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER Sheffield Eagles v Dewsbury Rams Eagles by 18 SUNDAY 18th SEPTEMBER Barrow Raiders v Batley Bulldogs Barrow by 22 Halifax Panthers v York City Knights Fax by 16

Yeah I don't see them been in danger of relegation, maybe they can be on the fringe of the playoffs but I feel next year will be a season where they will be able to plan pretty early for the following season.

Every player who has ever developed cramp at the same moment their team has to defend a drop out.

I honestly don't think they will, I don't expect Leigh to be in the relegation battle. Now they do have to get rid of some players but I think they will avoid the norm for the promoted team in just picking up what scraps are available and I think they probably look a good prospect now for any semi ambitious player.

I fully expect Wakey to be in the Championship in 2024, this seems to be the first year a team will get promoted and not automatically be the favs to go down. There is some real pressure on Wakey to stay up next year because I think the Championship will ruin them once the SL funding is taken off them. Without that I would put the other 2 teams in the championship with WF postcodes in front of them.

Oh you saw that but you didn't see......

Nigel Wood and integrity in the same sentance.

Yeah I don't want to jinx it but I don't see the reason of picking the Fax game over the Barrow game. The only bonus is with it been on Sunday so we get a days more rest than we would have if they played it on the Monday like originally planned.

I actually kind of agree that its just a rugby incident but we have seen players getting banned for less. So personally I don't think its a ban but it would not surprise me to see one handed out but its RL so JWH may get a ban for running in to his shoulder.

Maybe they are going to stash some money away for when they get relegated next season. Absolutley ludicrous decision.

Can't see Simon Grix letting McDermott coach us that day.

Heard Fev have a big sponsorship deal with Stannah in the works as well.

Interesting you are so high on Widnes again and if my memory serves me right you were thinking the same last season. They would have to make a huge jump to leapfrog Batley, Barrow, and even York in my opinion never mind jumping in to a second group. Most of the rest I agree with although Keighley could be next years Barrow, I don't see them been alongside Batley but more in the Sheffield/London group. I can see Bradford in that group as well and Haven which in my eyes would leave a very clear bottom 2. Specualtion though until we hit next season.

I thought it was a try on my first viewing, its just one of those where you see the flag go down and most people asume he must be in touch when wingers these days score those for fun.

I enjoyed that game, thought we gave our selves too much to do after a bit of a sloppy first half but thought we competed enough to show that if we do make the semi it should not be as lopsided as last season. Edit: Just watching a few crucial parts in that video. Hard to see the double movement but can see the Fax players asking about it. Also interesting to see if Joey gets in trouble for the late shot on JWH for Fax last try. Its late and a shoulder but can't see contact but can hear Woody complaining to the ref about it after the hooter. Not a clue how the games are reviewed but presuming as nothing was given on field it probably won't get looked at.

What makes you think Fax are going to be spending less next season? Most of this years squad are already signed up for next year and it looks like only 3/4 will be leaving with some new additions already signed up. Im hoping we can be a bit further away from the chasing pack next year and a lot closer to Fev and Toulouse.

Thats exactly what I said although I don't recall mentioning the Fax tries only that Fax conceded too many soft tries. Given one is drive from 10 yards out that carried 2 players over the line and another was from a last tackle play and an awful read I think that was a fair comment. Edit: Just watching the Grix interview and he just said the same. Can't believe he is disrespecting Fev like that.

Yeah nothing on there that changes my mind and I think when the video comes out will offer a better angle. But you can see his arm reach out for the line so I guess its just a question if he makes that second movement.

Obviously not happy with the loss but happy with the result if that makes any sense and if the game had gone on another 5 minutes I think we would have won it as Fev looked shot. Too many soft tries conceded for Fax and I would like to see Fev's 4th try again as it looked a very clear double movement. As has been said the refereeing performance was eratic and I thought it made for a very stop start game for both teams. Fev looked bigger and stronger early doors as expected and went back to back to back with tries in the 1st half which rocked us but Im very pleased to see us finish the stronger and stopping Fev scoring in the 2nd half. About 3 players to come back in for next week and really good to get JWH back on the field. We are closer than ever to been the 2nd best team in the league, I think the Grix brothers have done a great job for us.

Yeah a lot of what you said there is the bit that has always baffled me about the ruling which makes me think the rule is more based around simulation than anything else but Ive not actually seen a rule that covers it. I do think this is one that needs to go down a common sense route a bit like how the incorrect pla the ball is now often a scrum rather than a penalty although to be fair it does not come up nearly enough to think about too much.

Im not fully understanding what you are saying here, the defenders would be free to do whatever they like because the ref would not have called the tackle, would not tell them to get onside, and would likely be shouting play on, because no tackle had been effected.