Pre-Season Warm Up. Featherstone Rovers v Wakefield. Sunday 23rd January 2022.

[marklaspalmas]

Always good to get the first game under your belt. I thought the Leeds game was a very good exercise for Fev's players. Plenty of positives, and plenty of room for improvement. Just how it should be at this stage.

We got a first look at:

JSL who will be strong at second-row.

Smith who I thought was ok, did some last-tackle kicking and ran at the line a few times.

Bayley who covered full-back for a while and got stuck in.

Wildie, Hellewell, Trout and Briscoe all looked solid on their respective returns.

Next up Wakefield. Not sure what kind of team/squad they will bring.

For Rovers, I'm guessing it'll be the same 21, unless......

..... Pickersgill recovers from his slightknock, which would be interesting.

...... Holmes is rested after his knock.

...... Leilua gets a flight in the next couple of days.

[marklaspalmas]

[The Phantom Horseman]

That's not far from a full-strength squad for Wakefield, with only Mason Lino and Bill Tupou missing from squad numbers 1-17 (and Fifita wears 35). I don't know if the fact that they have only named 19 suggests they are taking this really seriously and not playing any young/fringe players or not.

So it's going to be really interesting to see if we can be as competitive as we were in the first half against Leeds last week, this should be another very good test of where we are.

I watched the video of Wakefield's game against Halifax. It was a strange one, as having read that Wakefield scored 6 tries in 23 minutes on the way to a 34-12 half time lead, I thought Wakefield would have been great or Fax terrible but it wasn't really either of those, they just got a lot of ball and seemed to find it easy to score. Then Fax came back into the game even before Wakefield brought on a few youngsters, it was a typical pre-season game I guess.

The score won't matter on Sunday but after the Leeds game I'd be hopeful we can give them plenty to think about.

 

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Uh oh, Connor Jones on his Insta seems to be suggesting he has Covid.

[gazza77]

4 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Uh oh, Connor Jones on his Insta seems to be suggesting he has Covid.

Going to be a risk for at least a while yet I'd suspect. I know more people who've caught it over the last month than the remainder of the last two years combined, including myself. Fortunately none with critical symptoms. 

Fingers crossed we don't get an outbreak across the club, or wider game. 

[lingaro]

Better this week than next! 

[Guest]

21 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

That's not far from a full-strength squad for Wakefield, with only Mason Lino and Bill Tupou missing from squad numbers 1-17 (and Fifita wears 35). I don't know if the fact that they have only named 19 suggests they are taking this really seriously and not playing any young/fringe players or not.

The young lads/reserves are playing oldham away on the saturday

[Adam B]

Speaking of the corona-nonsense, does anyone know if we were doing the pointless covid passport/LFT checks on entry last week, and will be again this week, or has the club elected to take a sensible approach and leave well alone?

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Adam B said:

Speaking of the corona-nonsense, does anyone know if we were doing the pointless covid passport/LFT checks on entry last week, and will be again this week, or has the club elected to take a sensible approach and leave well alone?

Unfortunately AB  FEV aren't allowed to take a sensible approach however Mandatory Covid passports for entering nightclubs and large events  end, on the 26th but organisations could still choose to use the NHS Covid pass if they wished

[Adam B]

21 hours ago, POR said:

Unfortunately AB  FEV aren't allowed to take a sensible approach however Mandatory Covid passports for entering nightclubs and large events  end, on the 26th but organisations could still choose to use the NHS Covid pass if they wished

Cheers POR, what's weird is I've seen no mention of any entry checks at all on the website or the matchday info from last week or this.

No businesses/organisations in their right mind will have @rsed around with this nonsense where they could reasonably avoid it, even with the recent (dreadful) plan B legislation in place. It's hard to imagine they'll give it a second thought after the 26th. Even the Govt seems to have realised the jig is up.

[marklaspalmas]

Can we keep the boring C19 politics out of this and stick to the rugby?

[Adam B]

48 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Can we keep the boring C19 politics out of this and stick to the rugby?

Perhaps you can produce some more trivial stats for us? That should get the joint rocking .

[jamescolin]

Have we a team announced for Sunday against Wakefield.

[Guest]

here you go C

 

[haskey]

Still not sorted the Chisholm fiasco. I see 

[Fevrover]

9 hours ago, haskey said:

Still not sorted the Chisholm fiasco. I see 

No but didn't take long to find him guilty ,typical RL.

[jamescolin]

16 hours ago, POR said:

here you go C

 

Cheers POR. Read it with a magnifying glass. Twitter keeps asking me for a password. I can't connect with it.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

On 19/01/2022 at 14:47, The Phantom Horseman said:

Uh oh, Connor Jones on his Insta seems to be suggesting he has Covid.

Unless the Covid return to play protocols have changed I guess that's that's likely to rule him out of the York game too. 

Tried to check on this season's rules but although a Google search brings up a link to the protocol it appears to be dead. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

22 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

Unless the Covid return to play protocols have changed I guess that's that's likely to rule him out of the York game too. 

Tried to check on this season's rules but although a Google search brings up a link to the protocol it appears to be dead. 

I can't remember exactly what they were last season but I wonder if they might have changed in line with the recent changes in national guidelines, in tandem with the return of scrums etc.

As you suggest, trying to find any updates on the RFL website is a needle and haystack scenario.

[Guest]

.People isolating with COVID-19 wait until they have received 2 negative rapid lateral flow tests on 2 consecutive days

From Monday 17 January, people with COVID-19 in England can end their self-isolation after 5 full days, as long as they test negative on day 5 and day 6

if an individual is positive on day 5, then a negative test is required on both day 6 and day 7 to release from self-isolation, or positive on day 6, then a negative test is required on days 7 and 8, and so on until the end of day 10.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I can't remember exactly what they were last season but I wonder if they might have changed in line with the recent changes in national guidelines, in tandem with the return of scrums etc.

As you suggest, trying to find any updates on the RFL website is a needle and haystack scenario.

As far as I remember it was

- isolate (ie keep away from the club) for 10 days

- retest after 10 days (until negative)

- wait a further 7 days for a return to play

but as you say no idea if it's changed

* which seems to be confirmed here

Meanwhile, Moorhouse says the seven-day graduated return to play - on top of the 10 days isolation - that players have to complete if they have tested positive will remain.

Featherstone Rovers player Frankie Halton questioned that policy on social media at the weekend given he will miss Saturday’s 1895 Cup final at Wembley because of the 17-day ruling.

He Tweeted: “What I don’t get is why the rest of society can isolate for 10 days and go back to normal but players can’t?

“I’ve done my 10 days tomorrow but not allowed to play at Wembley next weekend...but I can go and watch. Makes sense?”

Moorhouse said: “That seven day graduated return to play was based on medical best practice based on advice our Covid medical lead and other sport medical leads.

No change in Covid-19 rules for now, say RFL | Wakefield Express

[jamescolin]

23 hours ago, POR said:

here you go C

 

What do you think the starting  13 will be and in what positions?

[marklaspalmas]

On 21/01/2022 at 16:29, Adam B said:

Perhaps you can produce some more trivial stats for us? That should get the joint rocking .

Righto! Since you ask......

All the summer era (post 1996) friendlies between Rovers & Wakefield:

23 January 2022   Featherstone       Wakefield         22 January 2017   Featherstone   28   Wakefield   20   W 10 January 2016   Featherstone   18   Wakefield   22   L 11 January 2015   Wakefield   34   Featherstone   20   L 12 January 2014   Featherstone   24   Wakefield   8   W 13 January 2013   Wakefield   38   Featherstone   10   L 27 January 2008   Featherstone   28   Wakefield   38   L 4 February 2007   Featherstone   26   Wakefield   42   L 5 February 2006   Featherstone   26   Wakefield   48   L 23 January 2005   Featherstone   10   Wakefield   36   L 28 December 2003   Featherstone   14   Wakefield   34   L 29 December 2002   Featherstone   0   Wakefield   18   L 26 December 1997   Featherstone   18   Wakefield   12   W

 

[Fevrover]

HT 16-12

[Fevrover]

FT 22-18