Batley preview

[Keep The Faith]

https://tombatley.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/dominant-dogs-go-top/

[unicorn106]

So year on year our aim is going to be to survive the bottom 2 ? Really ? While the gap to the top gets greater and greater

They should promote the top 3 /4 to super league .. That would mean 4/5 could fight off relegation to the championship - promote the top 4 from champ 1 and make a much more competitive league - with the way the challenge cup results went the rest in champ 1 want shut down anyways

Unfortunately surviving the drop will be our aim, I can't see anything changing to not make this our goal every year...........sad but true, but that goes for the other teams down there with us.

[LINNERS]

Unfortunately surviving the drop will be our aim, I can't see anything changing to not make this our goal every year...........sad but true, but that goes for the other teams down there with us.

 

That was Batleys aim a decade ago and after keeping our heads above water we managed to establish ourselves and progressed to being one of the better teams on one of the lowest budgets.  We are lucky that we have a bigger pool of players to pick from and less travelling etc but most of our team was made up of local lads that had that desire to compete against the bigger teams.  You have some decent amateur teams up there and with the right attitude could easily achieve something similar.  Your friends at Haven have managed it in the not too distant past.

[DavidM]

There's certainly mixed messages and confusion around. We are saying survival is the aim , but it wasn't in preseason ... We were pushing on again as part of PV's year by year plan . That was the upbeat message . But did we think Sammut would do all this ? Recruitment along the line was key , and again every week we'd hear about centres and wingers and potential incomes ... First preference and second preference etc and plans for targeted players . Yet nothing happened? People say SAMMUT is on an outside budget , so why haven't these other signings been made ? Phil says one thing and the BOD do another ? Are they on different wavelengths . To me this squad was gonna struggle - I always look at 1-7 and points scoring and I just don't see enough there . But this was evident last year - yet we re-signed them all , so you get same old . People think I get at players , but it's not personal. Some aren't good enough to cut it at this level , s level which is moving on and leaving us behind in some areas . We needed a 7 to take pressure of JS and half the load , and we needed more strike to take advantage of those . We also need a proper 13 to help out - a third prop is not cutting it. Our pack when fit can cut it , but nous and creation , and quality behind the scrum wins games and there we have been sadly lacking for to long .We can't change backs as this is all we have - zero pressure for places . If you can't score points then you are up against it . We are playing in this league of a year or two ago , but it's improved beyond the level we have . Where is the direction , what is the plan now ? We need to know from the club . Phil is saying the same thing every week and it's sounding hollow .It isn't bad luck and refs when it happens every week

[homeandawayer]

Batley top of the league .......... attendance 658 !!

[Anonymouse]

you keep saying 1-7 and points .. 2 and 5 are not going to score without ball in hand and they only get this from dummy half in there own 20 .. the problem to me lays half backs and forwards and at times centres not seeing the right options .

[Old standoff]

There's certainly mixed messages and confusion around. We are saying survival is the aim , but it wasn't in preseason ... We were pushing on again as part of PV's year by year plan . That was the upbeat message . But did we think Sammut would do all this ? Recruitment along the line was key , and again every week we'd hear about centres and wingers and potential incomes ... First preference and second preference etc and plans for targeted players . Yet nothing happened? People say SAMMUT is on an outside budget , so why haven't these other signings been made ? Phil says one thing and the BOD do another ? Are they on different wavelengths . To me this squad was gonna struggle - I always look at 1-7 and points scoring and I just don't see enough there . But this was evident last year - yet we re-signed them all , so you get same old . People think I get at players , but it's not personal. Some aren't good enough to cut it at this level , s level which is moving on and leaving us behind in some areas . We needed a 7 to take pressure of JS and half the load , and we needed more strike to take advantage of those . We also need a proper 13 to help out - a third prop is not cutting it. Our pack when fit can cut it , but nous and creation , and quality behind the scrum wins games and there we have been sadly lacking for to long .We can't change backs as this is all we have - zero pressure for places . If you can't score points then you are up against it . We are playing in this league of a year or two ago , but it's improved beyond the level we have . Where is the direction , what is the plan now ? We need to know from the club . Phil is saying the same thing every week and it's sounding hollow .It isn't bad luck and refs when it happens every week

. Well said David we defo need a quality scrum half to work with JS.

[DavidM]

There's no contradiction then , I agree . Halfbacks and centres . Wingers only work off what's fed to them . I think forwards mainly cancel each other out when all ours are fit . We are ok at 9 , but 13 is giving nothing other than simple hit ups . When you can't create or score points then every time you get 12 or more behind you are up against it . We can work on fitness , defence , structures ... But you can't instil quality if it isn't there

[Death to the Rah Rah's]

At present we aren't competing on a level playing field.

 

I'm all for rewarding finishing positions with decreasing amounts of prize money as the better teams should be rewarded to give them incentives to push on.

 

Where the current system in the Championship fails the teams in the bottom half of the league is the way the cash is distributed allowing some clubs to be full time whilst others struggle along in a part time environment, thereby creating a problem.

 

You will always have a club that bucks the trend fielding a competitive side in the way Batley have, but for how long, as the clubs with bigger budgets will come along at the end of the season and cherry pick the best players. 

 

I've never seen a set of Town's accounts, but I would hazard a guess to say that revenue streams will be around the £400k mark including Town's share of central funding which is nowhere near enough to fund a full time squad of players, even a bottom half Championship side would probably need in excess of £1,000,000 a season to go full time.

 

I'm amazed the likes of Sheffield and Halifax can afford to do this on their crowds despite having much better access to sponsorship being a city based club.

[donald]

At present we aren't competing on a level playing field.

 

I'm all for rewarding finishing positions with decreasing amounts of prize money as the better teams should be rewarded to give them incentives to push on.

 

Where the current system in the Championship fails the teams in the bottom half of the league is the way the cash is distributed allowing some clubs to be full time whilst others struggle along in a part time environment, thereby creating a problem.

 

You will always have a club that bucks the trend fielding a competitive side in the way Batley have, but for how long, as the clubs with bigger budgets will come along at the end of the season and cherry pick the best players. 

 

I've never seen a set of Town's accounts, but I would hazard a guess to say that revenue streams will be around the £400k mark including Town's share of central funding which is nowhere near enough to fund a full time squad of players, even a bottom half Championship side would probably need in excess of £1,000,000 a season to go full time.

 

I'm amazed the likes of Sheffield and Halifax can afford to do this on their crowds despite having much better access to sponsorship being a city based club.

halifax are still part time and they got over 600k for finishing where they did in the super 8,s as for sheffield and london they,ve mega rich owners

[ginaldo]

Halifax are partimers

[wonky]

With ours and havens budgets and resources were probably suited to being the top 2 in league 1. I really fear for our crowds if were only realistically going to win 4 games at home haven,swinton,oldham and possibly dewsbury. Other than that can anyone honestly see us winning any other games other than haven away and in blackpool.

[mike9]

I am not convinced that this team at the moment is not good enough.We matched them in every department in the first half.Sammut the scrum half and Forber the stand off played very good in the first half.but after 5 minutes in the second half the the whole pack just went flat. From 1 to 7 still carried on playing the same way the only thing that changed was the pack never made any ground or break a tackle or even off loading just shows you that our pack was very good in the first half so 1 to 7 were getting in good field position and making good ground hence the score at half time 14 :12.There's no way in the world can Sammut or Forber or the 1 to 5 do anything behind a pack that looked like it had given up 5 minutes into the second half.Yes every decision and all the 50.50 calls all went to batley.the wingers and centres where getting plenty of ball that's where the try's where scored.So that leaves a question why did the pack go so flat after 5 minutes in the second half and I witnessed the same against dewsbury.

[DavidM]

We always prided ourselves on our fitness as well. For all our deficiencies we were fit and finished strongly . From what I've seen we don't look to have the same physical ' fizz ' we've had before . Are we subsiding through conditioning or a mental issue like belief or confidence ?

[town4me]

It was pretty similar to this last season where we were all wondering where are the wins going to come from and it came good in the end. However I just think there has been a big progression of the mid table clubs from last season and they have moved on which leaves the two cumbrian clubs and the two new boys seperate from the rest which is going to make it tougher this year. It's early days but let's stay behind the team.

[unicorn106]

Batley top of the league .......... attendance 658 !!

That sums up the game in a nutshell, I doubt they would have got many less if they had been bottom.

[town4me]

Batley top of the league .......... attendance 658 !!

wow.what do batley have to do to bring in crowds. They have had an impressive start and they must see that figure as dissapointing.

[Keep The Faith]

Batley top of the league .......... attendance 658 !!

640 batley fans there i'd say away support was very little but that what happens when not winning plus it was mothers day

[DOGFATHER]

From what I'm hearing the money in this division is going to be distributed more evenly next season. So that should help to level the playing field a bit, 2 years too late, but there you go.

I keep hearing some of you Cumbrians shout about how difficult it is for you to recruit quality, given you are not in the heartland. But you don't have to compete with clubs like Leeds, Bradford. Huddersfield, Wakefield and Castleford all vying for the same players and more importantly the same pool of fickle fans on your doorstep. So it's swings and roundabouts really. Yes our gates are very disappointing, but regardless of how good we are, or Dewsbury, Hunslet or Keighley etc. for that matter, we will always struggle to entice fans away from the big fashionable clubs. At least you guys up there in Cumbria have the luxury of just having to put a winning team together to get bigger gates...

[ivans82]

i think the main reason we might lack fitness is , we have several players coming back off long term  injuries who need to play themselves back in .unfortunately it has probably rained every day from when training started to mid february , we know they haven t been able to train on the pitch most of the time , some weeks training has been in wild windy and wet conditions . yes we have trained , but surely the quality can t be the same ....we need to get behind the lads get 2 points against oldham and kick on ....on batleys crowds , it just shows you how hard it is to get supporters back once they have found something else to do on a sunday .everyone thinks a little success will see crowds return , but sadly that is not the case .

[Seaton Sandy]

From what I'm hearing the money in this division is going to be distributed more evenly next season. So that should help to level the playing field a bit, 2 years too late, but there you go.

I keep hearing some of you Cumbrians shout about how difficult it is for you to recruit quality, given you are not in the heartland. But you don't have to compete with clubs like Leeds, Bradford. Huddersfield, Wakefield and Castleford all vying for the same players and more importantly the same pool of fickle fans on your doorstep. So it's swings and roundabouts really. Yes our gates are very disappointing, but regardless of how good we are, or Dewsbury, Hunslet or Keighley etc. for that matter, we will always struggle to entice fans away from the big fashionable clubs. At least you guys up there in Cumbria have the luxury of just having to put a winning team together to get bigger gates...

Can't agree with this at all-in fact your reasoning suffers from a fatal inversion of logic. All the Super League clubs you mention -plus a lot more in the Lancashire /Cheshire corridor are constantly shedding players who no longer quite cut the mustard at that level. It's almost impossible for Cumbrian clubs to attract those dropping down a level due to travelling considerations and wage expectations,and so they sign for clubs on their doorstep. Not many luxuries up here Marra ,and as we know to our frustration a winning team is no longer reflected in bigger gates. 

[LeeF]

None of the problems mentioned are new. The lack of try scoring ability, lack of fitness, no game plan etc etc

It has all been posted on here many times before over the last 2 seasons with very little having changed

Yes Sammutt is only 2 weeks back from a long term injury/ operation but the issues are much deeper

I would question the actual ability of the coach. Are the payers fed up of hearing him and need a new one with fresh ideas? He doesn't appear to be able to improve things

[shaun mc]

Didn't Sammut post a tweet being very critical of his game yesterday??

The fittest forwards should be Gordon, Scholey, Whiteley and McAvoy and then Phillips close behind, the rest have had disruption or a lack of game time

[Ginock1]

I would say our fittest players should be without doubt be sammut,  verlinden , Gordon ,hulme and then fifita as these boys have the time to put in extra sessions as they don't have work / shifts to put in between seeing their family and being rugby players. They should be training as full timers especially the overseas lads. We are desperate for them to do well , like king Kenny Kerr , paddy tumivave ,mully,big Jimmy , sione , limmer jt , Jenkins .stacky..... put it in, be a leader and the town falls in love with you.

[GeordieTownie]

Obviously the manner of conceding in the 2nd half wasn't great but with a few players still to come back in surely we can take some heart from the first half performance?

We played at team that heave beaten Leigh, Sheffield and Halifax and only lost to featherstone by 2 points. All those teams all be looking at the top 4.

If it's a fitness issue it can be sorted.