Tex Evans Thigh

Big bust up apparently Ford on his way out as well. Cullen is a poor coach glad we didnt get him.

40-22 to Leigh. they looked good other day have home advantage and will be up for it. our form isnt great for arguably the toughest fixture this season. Hope Im wrong.

Its fair mate. Players take praise when they play well and should take criticism when they dont. Most of the team have been excellent this season, some played poorly tonight. Field for me wasnt even playing well when we were at top form. He was shocking against Keighley and cost us 2 tries.

I would drop Field his decision making and ball control are terrible and cant make a break. only good feature is his contact in defence.

We werent committed enough as we have been in previous games. we obviously thought it was gonna be easy as did most on here. Briggs poor last 2 games needs dropping to give him a kick up back side. Allan in centre god know why - powell has to take that on the chin. Jamie Field hasnt had a good game for about 7 years, but hes his mate so we'll have to carry him We badly miss Grayson. We have no punch without him and all of a sudden our forwards look small. They did against Widnes as well. Manning is too light weight. Hope the wheels havent fallen off but we need to improve on that effort referee aside.

The ref was inconsistant. He penalised us twice for markers not square which maybe fair enough but he then let toulouse do it for the rest of the game. a scrum for an offload is plain ludicrous, if hes held its a pen - so hes incompetent or doesnt know the rules. We were ###### admittedly but this clown didnt help. Ive just watched some of the decisions on TV and the commentators take the sting out of the decisions by justifying them ratgher than querying them. Refereeing in Rugby League is appalling and its putting me off the game.

Cant see us losing this one. In the past I could but the ethos DP seems to have instilled in the group means we shouldnt be underestimating anyone. They wont be easy but if we play to our best we should have enough in the tank. Hope DP rotates a couple of players as a few were looking tired, briggs and Welham for example. Maybe bring in players like Coady and keep things fresh. Fev win 36 - 18

I wouldnt be overly worried hes a good player for us but I dnt think hes SL standard to be honest.

Theyve got a fair few players back and some other teams players. It might give them the boost they need to get over us. Hope not butI think this might be our first defeat. It will certainly be our hardest game. Just heard Widnes team: Ford, Ainscough, Koa Love, Grady, Gardner, Thackray, Webster, James, Netherton, Gannon, Doran, Kavanagh, Allen. Pretty strong, this will be tough. Need to stop their go forward and limit the space of those 3 pivots ford, thackray and webster.

That is late for the bus to set off. Itll be an hour and quarter with a free run which of course it wont be on the M62 on a friday night!! So is there one place where folk are meeting up before the game or is it a non-starter??

Thanks

Is anyone meeting in a pub before the widnes game? If so where?

Will be a tough game of course, Widnes away is never easy and we havent got a great record there. This is the biggest test so far as we are no longer a surprise package and Widnes will be geared up for a tough encounter. I can see us scoring points but they also have a very good attack so I think the game will be won and lost on how our defence copes with the threat of Webster, Ford and Thackray. Realtively high scoring game Im going for a 32-30 win. Hopefully the tragic events of this week inspire us and the fans stand up and be counted. Sure we will!

Widnes in loan signing shocker. Do they own any players? He'll be pretty good for them I reckon, presume he'll be in against us which will give them a lift.

Tommy Saxton is arguably our best player this season behind Finn, Grayson and Briggs. Most of what we do well comes off the back of a quick play the ball from tommy's scoots. One of the last people Id drop. I think wing is now his position, as he doesnt come round the back that well when playing fullback.

Doubt he will play Birchy but hope he does in a way as I too would like to see him do well.

Good player for C1 level and will go well. Not quite at the standard where we want to be Id say and not in the same class as Ben Kaye. Good luck to the lad.

Its not the wind though is it Chris, its physics that dictate the momentum rule. i.e. if the player passing the ball is travelling at a certain speed and passes the ball laterally it will also continue to travel forward based on the momentum of the player passing the ball. Nowt to do with wind really! Most teams attacking play starts with a tip on from a prop or middle unit man Mark its nothing new, we were doing it last season just not as well. Have a look at the 'half back/hooker' thread on the main page Ive put a bit more detail on there.

theyre crapn knackered. take out the foreign players and they have a championship squad. watched the end of the saints game it was a rate laugh.

amateur teams do get a pay out if a player plays SL dont they??? dual reg is already causing problems. Cullen is already using excuses at widnes about having x amount of players out. 4 of these are dual reg's that have been called back. I think it is false economy to rely on these and leigh will suffer as the warrington players are quality and will undoubtedly be back at warrington once the hard grounds and injuries come along.

excellent! glad it panned out as i hoped with our defence nullifying the 'backlash' effect and once we scored in 2nd it was floodgates open. i thought we would be sending grayson at black n it worked a treat but it was the defence that won us that game they were just sickened and its the best rovers defence ive ever seen.

never understand why people assume that opposite positions will be up against each other. Id be surprised if Balck and Finn cross paths much at all on Friday. battles in the centres and wide back row is about the only time you will get genuine one on one confrontations throughout a game. Will will guide us around the park better than Balck will do for Fax. Balck will provide more threat with ball in had mind but we have Briggs and Kain for that. A more accurate comparison would be Finn and Branighan who is amore effective organiser than black. The key battle will be in the middle and we need our pack to limit their go forward to deny black branigan penkyvicz gleeson royston the chance to attack us on the back foot. Our def and line speed has been good thus far so we can do it but it should be interesting.

Logic and form suggest Fev should win this one, but when has that counted for owt?!?!?! Were in form, should have a big crowd behind and confidence running high. Fax are in a slump and not playing well by the sounds of it. However - how often have we seen all votes for one team, opposition given up, obvious winner only to be shocked. Halifax have the best squad in the division and if they turn it on we will find it hard. Players the quality of Black, Penkyvicz, Royston, Branaghan can pose a threat to anyone. Ive no doubt we will score points, probably 30 but its the defence thats key. If we can get off to a good start, that should nullify the 'backlash' effect and bring doubt to Halifax. This reminds me of Leeds/Wigan Last week. falling big guns against new early form side. Hope the result will go the same way. Ill go with a win Fev 36 - 28 Fax Finn MOM Att: 2150 With those 2 players Id go with Spears in the middle and keep Grayson out wide in the back row. Spears doesnt have any trike wide like Grayson does and we need him going at people like Black on the fringe. Spears does a good middle unit job tying up defenders and with good floor work - he should be ok in the middle. Lee or Parker can move to 13 later in the game if we want to go more expansive - I wouldnt start like this we need to be solid and grind them down, Fax wont respond well to pressure.

Like most I wasnt convinced about Finn, mainly due to his last spell at the club and the comparison with Harris who I thought would be impossible to replace. Im pleased to say hes been a revelation! Kain and Briggs as halves doesnt work as they are too similar with many of the same strengths and weaknesses. Kain could go well with Finn, but Briggs kicking game has imnproved and that alone puts him above Kain at Half. Finn has organised us superbly and given us the direction, but more importantly the shape that we havent had for several seasons. Our attacking structure is much more balanced and measured with Finn a very good technician who can also set attacks in motion opposed to Kain whos passing is wayward at best. Kain is much better at 9, and I too said this would be a good option last season. Again not a full 80 because his distribution isnt great but for impact his running game is best utilised here imo.

Ive got a tear in my eye reading the thread. Ive played against the bloke and I respected him then, after 12 years watching him play for fev I respected him more and without knowing him well hold him in the highest regard as player and a man. Sorry for your loss Stu.