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Match thread: Championship Rd13. Newcastle v Featherstone Rovers. Thursday 2nd June 2022.


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Games coming thick and fast now. Sorry about posting this up late, I've just got back from London.

The 21 man squad should be announced today.

The major injury worry from Saturday will be Kheirallah, who hobbled off at the end. Although Mark is our most dangerous player, Pickersgill is chomping at the bit for a recall.

Jones still out with his 2nd match of the ban.

Cuthtberston and Hepi are the only two we can bring into the squad for rotation.

Otherwise, for everyone else, they have to get quickly back on the horse and do the job in a tricky-looking fixture.

 

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Artificial pitch at Newcastle which might mean a rest for at least one of our veteran forwards, acknowledging we don't have many options to come in. But you'd think Hepi will get a game. Whether Mac will want to bring the 37yo Cuthbertson back on an artificial surface remans to be seen too.

I got the impression Wildie was playing through the pain on Saturday, so ideally we'd want to give him a rest. But Smith got a busted nose late in the game so whether he's fit to switch and play big minutes at 9 remains to be seen. I suppose recallin Holmes might be an option, but I must admit I didn't really expect to see him feature for us again.

You'd think Pickersgill will come in for Kheirallah even if his bang on the knee turns out not to be too serious, but unless we want to recall one of Mathiou or McConnell from Doncaster, it might be a case of whoever is close to being fit gets a game.

I'd normally expect us to cruise through this as Newcastle haven't been very good this year, but we are banged up and on a 5-day turnaround after a bruising cup final, and they have had a week off and have recently had a lot of their bigger names return (Ta'ai, Foster etc) so I'd settle for an ugly win.

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3 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

More bad news as Lockwood is out for a month with a broken hand and Koppy is also reportedly injured.

Bffff. With Wildie struggling and Jones suspended and now these two, the squad suddenly looks a bit thin in the pack.

Add a rusty Cuthbertson, an out of sorts JSL and Ferres and Newcastle could be a challenge much harder than we thought.

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51 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Bffff. With Wildie struggling and Jones suspended and now these two, the squad suddenly looks a bit thin in the pack.

Add a rusty Cuthbertson, an out of sorts JSL and Ferres and Newcastle could be a challenge much harder than we thought.

Put joey in the pack let him earn his pay for a change 

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So we can piece together the squad as there are 19 names on the RFL web-based match centre.

Lockwood, Kopczak and Kheirallah all missing, as expected, but that's still a huge chunk of our key players.

Returns for Bayley Gill and Jacob Doyle, so for once we look overloaded in the backs, with Pickersgill, Briscoe, Hall, Hellewell, Leilua, Doyle, Gale, Gill, Jacks, Ford and presumably Smith (who I assume is number 20 on the list with Wildie 21). Would think there is a chance Smith will play 9 though and maybe Hellewell back row with our shortage in the forwards.

https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre/match-preview/2217789

 

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I would like to think that he might give Ford a complete game, and yes move Smith to 9 , as he and Wildie are the missing names.I think it is time to give Hepi some game time , and yes  play Hellewell in the pack.

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7 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

Maybe, but it'd be a big call on the lad after three months out with injury

I agree, just a different option, though I have no idea where he is with fitness.

I'm sure I'll think of something funny to say soon.

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Without, as we've said, knowing the fitness levels of every player, I'd go with Ford & Jacks at halfback tomorrow.

We have to try that combination sometime and see how it works.

I'd have Wildie at 9 and Smith off the bench, or the other way round.

We've got to play Bradford on Monday too.

A lot of work for those players. 3 games in 9 days starting with a physically and mentally draining defeat in a big final.

A true test of character coming up.

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   Logical Choice Ford and Jacks they need to get used to playing together.The way our forwards were beaten by the Leigh pack we may need to go wide early.Agreed the next few matches are going to test us.I would like another middle forward in sooner rather than later.  

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13 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

I'd have Wildie at 9 and Smith off the bench, or the other way round.

 

I wouldn't play Wildie at all Mark and let him recover in time for the next time we play Leigh. Smith at 9 for me before Jones comes back in on Monday.

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43 minutes ago, Steve Slater said:

I wouldn't play Wildie at all Mark and let him recover in time for the next time we play Leigh. Smith at 9 for me before Jones comes back in on Monday.

Well, if you know he is injured, that would make sense, but would you envisage Smith having to do the full 80?

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41 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Not saying he's not up to it. That's a lot of tackling in the middle for not a big man. Look how Leigh constantly ran at Wildie. 

Indeed. For instance, Smith made 11 tackles when playing the whole game half back at Tottenham, whereas Wildie made 39 at hooker despite not playing the full game. Typically a half back will make 10-15 tackles per game whereas the combined hooker players will make 50-ish.

That said, McDermott seems to be in favour of his starting hooker playing long minutes so if it is Smith he can expect a big workload. I got the impression Wildie was playing through the pain on Saturday and we might try to get through this game with a combination of Smith, Bussey and/or Davies.

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On 31/05/2022 at 10:31, The Phantom Horseman said:

I'd normally expect us to cruise through this as Newcastle haven't been very good this year, but we are banged up and on a 5-day turnaround after a bruising cup final, and they have had a week off and have recently had a lot of their bigger names return (Ta'ai, Foster etc) so I'd settle for an ugly win.

Looking at their squad I'm hopeful this won't be as tricky as I had feared. They are missing quite a few too through injury and suspension. They are missing both starting half backs, plus Brad Day, Ukuma Ta'ai and a couple of others. Maybe they are targeting their Sunday game against Sheffield as being more winnable.

Then again, two games ago they put 50+ past London away, and that's the trouble with a lot of the Championship teams outside the top 5 or so, you just don't know if they are up for it or not from week to week.

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2 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Looking at their squad I'm hopeful this won't be as tricky as I had feared. They are missing quite a few too through injury and suspension. They are missing both starting half backs, plus Brad Day, Ukuma Ta'ai and a couple of others. Maybe they are targeting their Sunday game against Sheffield as being more winnable.

Then again, two games ago they put 50+ past London away, and that's the trouble with a lot of the Championship teams outside the top 5 or so, you just don't know if they are up for it or not from week to week.

Usually up for it against Rovers .

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