Jump to content

Sun 1 Mar: The Betfred League 1 Match Thread


Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, EssexRL said:

In Skolars case it’s the squad we’ve got. Not sure what else the coach would do. We didn’t do that against Barrow AFAIK because we didn’t have the numbers for that. 

Is there any communication/relationship between Skolars & Broncos these days? Broncos reserves didn’t have a game this week... would it be possible for some of them to be DR with Skolars if Skolars ever need numbers? Some of the Broncos reserves have come through Skolars junior ranks, so would probably be glad to pull on the shirt if needed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 58
  • Created
  • Last Reply
15 minutes ago, dead man inc said:

Hope they can keep this effort up for the full 80. Was concerned after watching the pe season games, but so far the team are competing well ?

We’ve had a long spell of pressure but didn’t make it count. Cry have just scored - 16-32 but lots of positives - although we need to stop giving penalties away.  As I write we give another away. 
 

I have to say we look at bit light (physically). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, dead man inc said:

Is there any communication/relationship between Skolars & Broncos these days? Broncos reserves didn’t have a game this week... would it be possible for some of them to be DR with Skolars if Skolars ever need numbers? Some of the Broncos reserves have come through Skolars junior ranks, so would probably be glad to pull on the shirt if needed.

Been a feature in previous seasons and expect will be this season although issue for us is if we develop young players who are good we tend to lose them to Broncos. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Outstanding from Town today . Soaked up a lot of pressure then struck to score some nice tries . As time passed they battered cougars into submission and were all over them like a rash , and they only scored on 79 mins . Excellent all round display and well done Eliot Hall on four nice tries 824126C7-1DEF-4DD9-9E03-535CB72D896D.thumb.jpeg.433f2361ffdf1c940ce9f3fb415c106b.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, Thunder fan said:

28-8 win for thunder, travelling back home now, enjoyed my overnight stay in coventry, looking forward to next weeks game v workington.

How did you rate Coventry? I saw them at a pre season game & thought they looked noticeably better than previous years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

Thought that we'd win at Skolars, but not by so much, very pleased. Hunslet away next week, which looks interesting.

You played well. Good organisation. Some clever plays. Strong defence. We made it too hard for ourselves. The positives are all that went wrong for us can be easily fixed but that’s true every season!

Good crowd all things considered. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bears were caught cold early on and looked for the first 20mins like a team that haddened played for nearly a month. After that they more than matched Thunder. In the second half it was one try apiece until a late try from Thunder just before the hooter. 

All in all I was pleased with the performance from the Bears. A couple of mistakes cost us, and players are still getting used to each other in attack, but we have a good group of players this year. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, Thunder fan said:

28-8 win for thunder, travelling back home now, enjoyed my overnight stay in coventry, looking forward to next weeks game v workington.

 

34 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

That was closer than I would’ve expected 

 

22 minutes ago, dead man inc said:

How did you rate Coventry? I saw them at a pre season game & thought they looked noticeably better than previous years.

Bears have assembled another decent squad after losing some key players to Workington, Crusaders etc. Today's 17 included a loan from Keighley and 3xDR from Dewsbury. 

We started and ended the game with some howlers but generally refused to be bullied by a Thunder side containing some giants. Some better decisions going forward might have seen us score more points too. Having said that,  Newcastle were predictably very strong and, had their kicker brought his kicking boots, it would have been a wider margin at the final whistle.

General feeling is that Bears will do alright this season. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, EssexRL said:

You played well. Good organisation. Some clever plays. Strong defence. We made it too hard for ourselves. The positives are all that went wrong for us can be easily fixed but that’s true every season!

Good crowd all things considered. 

What was the crowd?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

What was the crowd?

Wasn’t announced. Not sure if everyone their paid but I’d guess 250-300. Good Welsh support and not bad for us given Broncos were at home.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Londonfan said:

Skolars terrible and will be battling out with west wales for last place. Same story as previous seasons not fit enough and lack ability. Another long season ahead 

They weren’t terrible and there were plenty of good spells. For me though they look too light and lacked power. Some odd kicking from us too given the wind strength plus far too many penalties- the penalty count turned the game in the second half: up to then it had been level pegging. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good game at derwent Park, town were class our defence was brilliant, new signing eliot hall from Coventry scored 4, bodes well for the season, just to note the standard of refereeing is awful, mr Crashley always seems to be reffing us and is terrible, referees can make or break a game 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 01/03/2020 at 22:38, Londonfan said:

Skolars terrible and will be battling out with west wales for last place. Same story as previous seasons not fit enough and lack ability. Another long season ahead 

Are you a season ticket holder?

Do you volunteer or try to help Skolars in any way at all?

My questions are not criticisms of you, however it might be that you are under appreciating just how difficult it is for Skolars to keep things going, let alone progress each year without somehow finding a source of significant funding that crowds of around 200 are never going to achieve.

The costs of hiring New River stadium (or any stadium in London) must be very high. Any players that are willing to relocate to London will if they start to stand out in league 1 easily catch the eye of Broncos. They incur the cost of mini and junior teams only to see (quite understandably as far as the players are concerned) the best Skolars juniors being attracted by unions higher pay  (e.g. Joel Kpoku) or taken under Broncos academy system (e.g Dan Hindmarsh.) Broncos reserves must also have made it even harder to recruit players - a number of Skolars juniors are in it who would certainly be good additions to Skolars 1st team.

I’m not an apologist for Skolars, far from it - For the last 4 seasons they hit a plateau, or even dipped. Last season being the 1st that things have shown signs of changing recently - competing and challenging the top half teams (even if the losses by a few close points in some games saw them finish in a low position in the table.)

Seeing the pre season friendlies, cup exit & 1st league game loss do not give me confidence that this will be the year that Skolars turn the corner, but reading a piece in ‘League weekly’ does give me an insight that perhaps the club are at least honest and realistic about their current position...

2F1396FC-05C7-4CE6-B8EE-6F4EC3C71A7B.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dead man inc said:

Are you a season ticket holder?

Do you volunteer or try to help Skolars in any way at all?

My questions are not criticisms of you, however it might be that you are under appreciating just how difficult it is for Skolars to keep things going, let alone progress each year without somehow finding a source of significant funding that crowds of around 200 are never going to achieve.

The costs of hiring New River stadium (or any stadium in London) must be very high. Any players that are willing to relocate to London will if they start to stand out in league 1 easily catch the eye of Broncos. They incur the cost of mini and junior teams only to see (quite understandably as far as the players are concerned) the best Skolars juniors being attracted by unions higher pay  (e.g. Joel Kpoku) or taken under Broncos academy system (e.g Dan Hindmarsh.) Broncos reserves must also have made it even harder to recruit players - a number of Skolars juniors are in it who would certainly be good additions to Skolars 1st team.

I’m not an apologist for Skolars, far from it - For the last 4 seasons they hit a plateau, or even dipped. Last season being the 1st that things have shown signs of changing recently - competing and challenging the top half teams (even if the losses by a few close points in some games saw them finish in a low position in the table.)

Seeing the pre season friendlies, cup exit & 1st league game loss do not give me confidence that this will be the year that Skolars turn the corner, but reading a piece in ‘League weekly’ does give me an insight that perhaps the club are at least honest and realistic about their current position...

2F1396FC-05C7-4CE6-B8EE-6F4EC3C71A7B.jpeg

As you say a fair assessment of the challenges not only of running a L1 team but also running one in the capital, where you don’t just fly the flag for your club but for rugby league more generally. - and with no resources. 

I have been watching Skolars for eight years now and I can see lots of progress on and off the field. I think there’s an expectation now that we should always be at the top. As Hector says on the day we can beat anyone and that’s sometimes where the frustration comes from (against North Wales there were plenty of bright spells and periods of domination but we struggle to sustain that although it’s worth saying we have a lot of new players this season including plenty of southerners). 


The promised extra funding (or new funding) would allow the club to fully reach its potential. It does incredibly well given the resources available. A sport like rugby league should be able to support two teams in London for goodness sake. 

I’m very happy to continue to support in my small way (including sponsoring a couple of the new players) and would urge all fans - including Londonfan - to help out in any way they can. 
 

A do think rebranding a good idea, something with a bit more of a local identity. 
 

Londonfan - will you be at the Thunder game? I’ll buy you a pint of the excellent New River beer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A quick PS to all the above about Skolars - are next home game is 28th a against Newcastle - it’s bring a friend for free. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Jeff Stein said:

And if they enjoy it - we don't have another home game until some time in May

I know the fixtures are crazy. Why can’t we have a shorter season so matches are closer together? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Jeff Stein said:

And if they enjoy it - we don't have another home game until some time in May

I've said loads of times the scheduling in League 1 is so damaging to the competition. There is no way to build momentum from one home game to the next

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

As far as the Crusaders are concerned, if we hadn't had a home draw in the Cup, with the postponement of our game with Donny on 16th. February our first home game would have been on March 22nd. and the next one's on 26 April!

Bonkers! How can the RFL not sorted out the issues from last year! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.