2017 Featherstone Rovers squad.

[Blue Pike]

Bradford and Sheffield gone ,Halifax skint .They are our main dangers for the top four.Surely we must have a good chance fingers crossed of reaching the top four .

[jt]

Bradford and Sheffield gone ,Halifax skint .They are our main dangers for the top four.Surely we must have a good chance fingers crossed of reaching the top four .

Sometimes when clubs are on the back foot that's when they play well and shock the teams around them so there nothing guaranteed

[Steve Slater]

Toronto might be a bigger danger than Bradford if the RFL relegate the Bulls and let the Canadians take their place. Even with the squad they've already assembled they'd be hard to beat, but heaven knows who'd they'd bring in if they were in the Championship?

[elppaxr2i]

The majority Toronto have signed are cast offs who werent regulars in their sides

A lot of what they have signed are the wrong side of 30 years old as well that are heading towards the twilight of their careers

There also appears to be no decent experienced half backs either to marshall the team round the pitch

Like Toulouse I cant see what the fuss is about - like Toulouse they will do alright in their glorified training session V Oxford et al in league 2 but will they be alright a year later facing Batley up the slope at Mount Pleasant in the rain?

Like Toulouse, when they finally arrive Toronto will not be the force people think they will be in the Championship

[The Blues Ox]

I think thats where managers judgement comes in Robin , we could have kept Ulugia if Disco had thought he was worth the money fev offered ,  sharp might not have thought manning worth it , its all about squads that are being  built and how certain players compliment your squads

 

Sharp thought that Manning was worth it, his board seemingly did not.

[The Blues Ox]

Oh dear nerve touched the only reason he didnt come to us was because we were looking and still are at other options pity you lot couldnt match BATLEYS OFFER  or indeed he still wanted to perform for you ...its a poor result for fax when there so called top player jumps ship at the first sign of your decline LOL

 

Erm we couldnt match Batley's offer because we asked him to take a pay cut..........we could not match Fev's either for what it is worth and I do not blame him one little bit. As I mentioned a while back one of your 2 likely signings fell through because you could not find some cash, I wonder if that was Manning........I bet it was an interesting conversation with a player once you agree terms and then have to back track because of a lack of reddies......

[Robin Evans]

Bradford and Sheffield gone ,Halifax skint .They are our main dangers for the top four.Surely we must have a good chance fingers crossed of reaching the top four .

we were skint last season.....

And got 4th

[Blue Pike]

we were skint last season.....

And got 4th

Yes but we had DR from one of the best Super League sdes with quality players lent to us and unless they are DR with either Wigan or Saints which I dont think they are I would be disappointed if we are relatively injury free next season to finish below Halifax .

[Blue Pike]

Erm we couldnt match Batley's offer because we asked him to take a pay cut..........we could not match Fev's either for what it is worth and I do not blame him one little bit. As I mentioned a while back one of your 2 likely signings fell through because you could not find some cash, I wonder if that was Manning........I bet it was an interesting conversation with a player once you agree terms and then have to back track because of a lack of reddies......

Oxy with your wide knowledge of the up to date goings on at Halifax and Rugby League in general are you actually on the Halifax board or do you work for a RL newspaper? Im not being sarcastic or owt I genuinely believe its one or the other??

[The Blues Ox]

Oxy with your wide knowledge of the up to date goings on at Halifax and Rugby League in general are you actually on the Halifax board or do you work for a RL newspaper? Im not being sarcastic or owt I genuinely believe its one or the other??

 

My mate Ethel has a friend of a friend who heard from Brenda down the local chippy.

[painkiller]

Erm we couldnt match Batley's offer because we asked him to take a pay cut..........we could not match Fev's either for what it is worth and I do not blame him one little bit. As I mentioned a while back one of your 2 likely signings fell through because you could not find some cash, I wonder if that was Manning........I bet it was an interesting conversation with a player once you agree terms and then have to back track because of a lack of reddies......

not as interesting as having to crawl to the players and ask them to take a cut after you squandered the money you made from the four on bills ..thats just plain bad management and a tad embarrasing...

[The Blues Ox]

Yes but we had DR from one of the best Super League sdes with quality players lent to us and unless they are DR with either Wigan or Saints which I dont think they are I would be disappointed if we are relatively injury free next season to finish below Halifax .

 

In all honesty I know what you are saying but I think our best chance of finishing above you is if you stay injury free simply because I think our squad is on a par with yours but with the added quality from Leeds you should finish above us. If we decide to dual reg though that could be a different story.

[The Blues Ox]

not as interesting as having to crawl to the players and ask them to take a cut after you squandered the money you made from the four on bills ..thats just plain bad management and a tad embarrasing...

 

Either way telling players you can't give them what you offered is pretty bad. How about loaning a player to another team with a promise to pay them a percentage of their wage and then not doing that so his loan team has to make up his money so he can pay his mortgage? What's your thoughts on something like that?

[Steve Slater]

In all honesty I know what you are saying but I think our best chance of finishing above you is if you stay injury free simply because I think our squad is on a par with yours but with the added quality from Leeds you should finish above us. If we decide to dual reg though that could be a different story.

 

I don't actually think it happened that way Blues Ox. The Dual Reg players helped a great deal, but Baldwinson aside, they were simply part of the supporting cast. We might have had Jordan Lilley a couple of times and he's the only one that came anywhere near a Man of the Match nomination, but the real reason Fev made the top 4 was the return to form and fitness of Briggs and Thackeray back together as a unit, which was a very rare occurrence earlier in the season, plus other players like Snitch coming back from injury to find their best form. Next year it might be a tougher selection dilemma for Jon Sharp because neither Fev nor Rhinos can possible have the same scale of injuries as last season. We hope!

[elppaxr2i]

Either way telling players you can't give them what you offered is pretty bad. How about loaning a player to another team with a promise to pay them a percentage of their wage and then not doing that so his loan team has to make up his money so he can pay his mortgage? What's your thoughts on something like that?

Are you "Greg Florimos boots" from the fax board on rlfans.com

[Robin Evans]

Are you "Greg Florimos boots" from the fax board on rlfans.com

of course he is

[The Phantom Horseman]

I don't actually think it happened that way Blues Ox. The Dual Reg players helped a great deal, but Baldwinson aside, they were simply part of the supporting cast. We might have had Jordan Lilley a couple of times and he's the only one that came anywhere near a Man of the Match nomination, but the real reason Fev made the top 4 was the return to form and fitness of Briggs and Thackeray back together as a unit, which was a very rare occurrence earlier in the season, plus other players like Snitch coming back from injury to find their best form. Next year it might be a tougher selection dilemma for Jon Sharp because neither Fev nor Rhinos can possible have the same scale of injuries as last season. We hope!

The real benefit of DR for us in my opinion was that it enabled us to go with a smaller squad and target our available funds towards the players we wanted in key positions - for instance last year the half backs, the other Sheffield lads, Griffin etc, this year Ulugia, Moore and the two new Sheffield lads - rather than have to build a huge squad, many of whom would only get a game if a rash of injuries occurred.

 

The main purpose of the DR arrangement as far as I can see was to fill in gaps that appeared in our squad - either in case of injury, or possibly areas where we turned out to be lacking in quality.

 

If you have a squad of 30+ players, you're probably going to end up with a lot of competent but average players and a mediocre team, not to mention the possibility of unrest amongst those who can't get near the gameday 17. Of course, we received dire warnings from fans of other teams that DR meant we would have players imposed on us whether we wanted them or not but that clearly wasn't the case with our DR arrangement.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons why DR shouldn't exist at all, nobody really likes it deep down, but if you're a canny Championship chairman and don't have a couple of million burning a hole in your pocket, you're either very brave or very stupid not to at least consider using it.

[Blue Pike]

I echo this but I believe that Leeds DR players are slightly better than most of our starting line up last year and for those who disagree dont you think that if we had anyone of a SL ability Leeds wouldnt sign them?

[The Blues Ox]

Are you "Greg Florimos boots" from the fax board on rlfans.com

 

Yeah or GFB to some, or numpty or other things I have been called over the years.

[jamescolin]

Is GFB a new member of our 2017 squad or is it jamescolin using another alias to post rubbish?

[oldrover]

Colin, i know you were a big fan of Eric Batten, so perhaps you could help me with this. didn't we used to have an annual dinner dance in his honour, known as the "Batten Ball"

[jamescolin]

Yes OR. But that's not cricket to mention it. I was almost stumped trying to remember. Thank goodness it wasn't a load of Bails. 1952 what a year, Wembley then Egypt. EB a great player.

[painkiller]

Either way telling players you can't give them what you offered is pretty bad. How about loaning a player to another team with a promise to pay them a percentage of their wage and then not doing that so his loan team has to make up his money so he can pay his mortgage? What's your thoughts on something like that?

How about paying your players there contract money so they can pay there mortgages.... instead of signing them up on one contract then giving them an ultimaton to take  acut or leave .. wots your thought on that ?

[Robin Evans]

How about paying your players there contract money so they can pay there mortgages.... instead of signing them up on one contract then giving them an ultimaton to take acut or leave .. wots your thought on that ?

i think glass houses might spring to mind.

I know our club have towed wi cash flow at times. It happens

[jamescolin]

It seems cash flow is a permanent problem in many clubs. From time to time there are hiccups. I always told my customers that when they had funds to put four months overheads cover away in reserve and then that gave them that time to adjust the position. If you spend it all when you have got it you are asking for trouble.