Toronto Prediction

[Dogstew]

5 hours ago, Pride & Heritage said:

What none of us know is, what goes off at training, or in the changing rooms. There may be very logical and perfectly sound reasoning for picking Smeaton. I can't say I'm his biggest fan, but in fairness to him, what has he done that is so wrong this season to warrant the negativity towards him? He hasn't particularly been any worse than most of the rest of the squad, or have I missed something? We've certainly had far worse players than him over the years. I wouldn't have picked him in the second row yesterday, but then again, I'm not a coach and by reading many of the comments on here, quite a few of you aren't either. How many mistakes, or missed tackles did Smeaton make yesterday?

Some fans who felt the need to pass judgement regarding what the BOD should do in relation to the coach, didn't even know which players were playing in which position, yet deem themselves qualified to make such calls.   

I've watched this club for many years now, and in all that time, I cannot remember a time, when sections of the supporters didn't have an axe to grind against something or somebody.

Karl Harrison saved us from relegation, won the NR Cup and we finished 3rd in the league during his 3 year tenure. Halcyon days for a club of our size. Yet it was not good enough for some sections of our support, all you heard on the terraces and read on this forum was "We don't play football, it's all 5 drives and a kick", "He can only coach forwards", "It's boring to watch" etc. 

John Kear got us to a GF, he had most of the better players from that side, move on to clubs paying more money, and there were numerous calls for his head, after we only just managed to avoid relegation during the next 2 seasons. Even the season we finished 3rd, there were calls on here for him to go, because, guess what "We don't play any football, it's all 5 drives and a kick" "It's boring to watch", "He should go to Wakefield now, he's lost the dressing room". Thank heavens the BOD know far more than some of the posters on this forum, eh?  

Matt Diskin came in with a plan to change all of that 5 drives and a kick type of play, preferred by the previous two coaches. He wanted us playing an attractive brand of football. In fairness to him, we do, we are now quite an attractive footballing side, if we manage to keep hold of the ball for more than 3 tackles. That isn't good enough either, because despite spending a fraction of what the top sides do, we are not winning enough, and we should be finishing in the top 3 every year, because Kear managed it once. Kear incidentally has gone from a coach who needed sacking, to the second messiah now he has gone.

For what it's worth, I think we have perhaps gone a little too far with trying to entertain. We are sometimes guilty of trying to play too much football and therefore making too many handling errors. Maybe the players do not have the ability or skill set to be able to play that type of football? As Steve Senior pointed out in a previous thread, Diskin isn't the one throwing intercepted passes out, missing tackles or making unforced errors, the players are. But hey, what do I know?

Many moons before that, Steven Ball came in to run the club and worked wonders. He took us from a club who would regularly be fighting to avoid the wooden spoon, to a club that should have been in SL, had the RFL not changed the rules after the season had ended. Again, this wasn't good enough either, lots of fans at the time wanted him gone, because he was allegedly taking money out of the club, AKA as a wage, for running the club as he dedicated all of his time to running the club on a full time basis - God forbid he should have earned a living!

I really despair sometimes, some supporters wonder why our gates are so low and why we find it hard to attract new fans, blaming everything from the local ethnicity of the population in relation to the ground (despite most of the adult population able to drive) to a lack of marketing by the BOD. Then you read the tripe on here and overhear it on the terraces on match days, and it should be very clear to anyone with half an ounce of intelligence, what the reason is.

Some of you perpetual complainers, please ask yourself this - If you were a new, or prospective fan, and read all of the moaning, whining and complaining on this message board, would you be tempted to come along and support the club? I know I wouldn't!

Before some of you dust off the old tried and tested chestnut of, "I'm entitled to my opinion". Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, but do me, and the club you support a favour and keep it to yourself if you have nothing positive or constructive to say.

Old chestnuts indeed.

There is some criticism on here which, in my opinion,  oversteps the mark. But that’s just my opinion and no more valid than yours.

Similarly the view that ‘you lot on here whine about everything’ and ‘you always want the coach sacking’ is a long way wide of the mark too. Deflections used to invalidate any suggestion that a change should be at least considered. But in the most part not true, even if some on here can give that impression.

And the final suggestion that lack of support or the image of the club is being harmed by people posting on here. Not coach and team performance or results! This is deluded.

I’m looking forward to the next competitive performance, or even a win. Is that view allowed?

Comment is free.

Come on Batley!

[nineoil]

9 hours ago, Pride & Heritage said:

 How many mistakes, or missed tackles did Smeaton make yesterday?

 

If you do not  know the answer to your own question - look at the video of the game !!!!

[Dog forever]

13 hours ago, Dogstew said:

Can’t figure out if this is irony, sarcasm or sucking up.

Probably just letting Kevin know that it was good to have a response to this debate about Matt diskin.

[silverback]

well i dont want to "keep it to myself"  if we go on a 10 losing streak again fans have a right to ask if the bod feel things are still fine and dandy. a lot a those people who for the moment arnt too overjoyed pay for season tickets,shirts,sponserships. so o would think are only voicing an opinion. i hope we have turned things round but i just dont think we will with the present setup.

[coolie]

I'm hoping toulouse will declare around 50 points

Batley 16 Toulouse 50

[Piggy's mate]

I think we'll go down fighting 16 - 24

[krakauer]

Does anyone remember what was the attendance at that game? Thank you.

[RPH]

18 minutes ago, krakauer said:

Does anyone remember what was the attendance at that game? Thank you.

the match was a double header and followed the  Hull KR v Catalans game....

the attendance for that match was 7, 203.....but I'm sure some people went home before the TWP v Batley match began... 

[ernieone]

Probably maybe 100 at most for the Toronto match, although very few paid for the second match as there was no turnstiles to pay in at and the main gates were open to let the supporters out from the first match.

It did not seem that the stewards knew there was a second match as when we pulled in to the car park the attendant could not understand why we were arriving 10 mins before the end of the first game.

It would of made sense to play the match at the Mount, Toronto should of been confident of winning regardless were it was played and it would of not been started at a ridiculous time on a Sunday Evening.

[Kayakman]

It all comes from the silliness of not letting Toronto play proper block games at home due the weather early on in the season...no excuse for it really...RFL needs to gets its head out of its ass on this one.