RobLambert

Yeah I'm not disputing there were ways of finding out the ko time - just that it wasn't overly-publicised given that it was not the norm. Anyway if we rely on the BBC website for non-SL info we'll all be in trouble. Talking of which - our game was the only one that did not show any updates on the bbc and the final score was only shown much later in the evening.

Turned up today as usual........ but for a 3pm ko. You've got to laugh. I didn't bother paying for the last half hour. Knowing Fev I wouldn't have been able to get into the ground anyway. So I went home - and completed my 34 mile round trip for nothing. Ok if I'd checked I could have found out the ko time but after attending approx 1000 games over the last 42 years or so its not something I usually do (I wonder how many Sunday games in that time have not been 3pm ko's - apart from the 3:30 era) The last thing on the Rovers website is about the Huddersfield game. Clearly I should have noted the heading of this thread.........

Controversial but I've thought for a number of years that its very difficult to find out the scores for friendlies. Although I go to most of them (I couldn't make it today) there seems to be an element of 'if you didn't go I'm not telling you' not just from the club but from such as this forum as well. I had to wait for the Total RL post on here to find out the score.

Just saying that we can question the rules without meaning they are anti-Fev.

Here we go again. Did anyone say that ? Whether or not its the rules I just think that most right minded people would say that if someone tries to bite your finger off for no reason and you lash out - its understandable. These lads are not full time professionals.

Difficult to pick 3 today. I'll go for.. 1. Turner - Looked very good especially given his signing was generally met with underwhelm-ment. Good feet, good hands and the 2 tries were excellent 2. Tuimavave - A real handful in the first half and those offloads are quality 3. Williams - Took it in strongly in that second half Akuola - looks to have some pace and takes some stopping, Reynolds - a different class at times, Aekins looked more lively than last year for me, O'Connor another promising debut. As has been said - difficult to read too much into it but we played some good stuff and there seems to be much to be positive about. Very disappointing crowd though.......

A couple of our supporters took the banter too far for me but yeah Waterhead generally ignored it - apart from the full back who got a lot of stick but had the last word with one of their best runs of the game late on

That's a good point - there's at least one that's brighter than the sun pointed at the car park directly above the big holes / puddles

1. Boothroyd 2. Webb 3. Day

Yep. It was good to see some rugby again but with the dodgy floodlights and muddy shirts it was difficult to identify some of the new players. That said - I think from what we saw - Toby Boothroyd is going to be a stand out player in the Championship this year.... The last half hour seemed to descend into a mistake-athon so I think we can put that down to the changes / conditions etc. Decent turnout for a Tuesday night friendly I thought (They'd run out of pay on the gate tickets at least) Goole seemed to bring a few. More than what we'd get from a few of our more illustrious neighbours. I hope they do well. I've always thought that if we want to expand the sport that we should look nearer to home first rather than Toronto and New York

Classic Fev fan 'he wasn't that good anyway' once a player leaves. I thought he did plenty in the game at our place last year. Probably their best player when they beat us that day - and playing out of position as well.

Yeah like you say it was hardly used in the back half of last year so it appears that there wasn't pressure put on us to play certain players as and when they became available during that period ? Although I'm not sure any SL team would start a new season in a DR partnership with us on the basis that we could pick and chose when we wanted their not-good-enough-for-SL-yet / returning-from-injury cast offs I agree with some of the posts above though in that I think we have much better cover this year and it would take a spectacular injury crisis / exodus of Aussies missing girlfriends etc to need DR.

Maybe when the injuries hit and we reach the business end of the season we tempt Bussey and Johnny D out of their breaks from the game. (Bussey in particular for me always seemed to be inexplicably outstanding after a period out). We win the play-off and get into SL after the RFL decide hours before the final that the winners go up....... Well despite my usual cynicalness I've always been a bit of a dreamer !!

Can't really disagree when you put it like that. Just a matter of opinion I suppose.

I was really being critical of the revised format more than anything - which has been tinkered with too much and cheapens it even further for me. i.e. its the how / why / who we are playing that leaves me a bit cold That said - I'm not a fan of the comp as such either - and seeing us rattling around at Wembley just doesn't bother me. I understand that its financially beneficial to get to the final but personally thats all it means to me. Even the img pts won't make any difference. Maybe its just us dinosaurs that remembers better times that can't get too excited about the Johnstone's paint knockout.

Is it just me that can't be ars*d reading this ?

oh yeah well spotted. Could be a number of reasons I suppose but looks a bit odd to me

I think it was the piece on the website on the Hatton signing that said he would be up against the likes of Josh for a place in the team so I assume that Josh will be with us again next year ?

We could make up a full team I'm sure. But seriously some really exciting signings and I don't think we'll be the championship minnows this season

Fishwick did ok last year ??

If thats the case you could argue that whoever walked up last year will turn up again this year - even if the prices go up

Great signing and a good move from the club to seal the deal early and hopefully build a squad around him. Lets just hope we can play some better stuff next year or it'll just be a waste of money. Over to you Fordy.....

Unlikely to be retiring then ?

Yep - I think that may apply to quite a few of us

Thats a very good point. Things go in cycles though don't they and I think back then we were on the up. We had the momentum after the low of dropping to the 3rd tier and increasingly during our run of league leaders shields there was talk of a return to some sort of a promotion system. In the following seasons we had a few ups and downs but overall we generally continued to be in that chasing pack before emerging as serious contenders for SL for the last few years. So it felt that there was a massive case of the bubble bursting / the end of an an era when we lost to London - not least because of the IMG situation but also because we had fluffed our lines / come so close - yet again. I just think that for a number of supporters it was all they could take. I may be being optimistic but I just can't see the RFL continuing with the 10 year IMG deal. If last seasons warm up was anything to go by it was a total disgrace with some of the one-sided Super League scorelines reminding me of some of the pre-2015 non-contested games when winning or losing didn't matter to anyone out of the top 6. If we are stuck with this system though, maybe the recent rankings should actually give us some hope rather than make us want to walk away (as they did me initially). All the talk a year or so ago was how we couldn't possibly improve our score much so why bother. But if Barrow can overtake us and Cas can become a grade A club by putting a few chairs down on the terraces surely there is hope ? Its us fans that are saying what's the point ? but when you think about it, it's us fans that have as much influence on virtually all of the criteria as anyone.