Match thread: Championship Rd 16. Featherstone Rovers v Batley. Sunday 26th June 2022.

[marklaspalmas]

We move on. Given the state of the squad at the moment, a free weekend is a blessing.

Our 30 man squad.......

2 Luke Briscoe   3 Joey Leilua   5 Gareth Gale   9 Connor Jones   11 Brett Ferres   15 John Davies   16 Junior Moors   17 Ben Hellewell   20 Morgan Smith   21 Luke Cooper   29 Johnathon Ford   32 Sam Eseh   4 Craig Hall Not selected 25 Bayley Gill Not selected 8 Craig  Kopczak Injured  10 James  Lockwood Injured  12 Jesse Sene-Lefao Injured  13 Jack  Bussey Injured  18 Josh Hardcastle Injured  26 Adam  Cuthberston Injured  27 Ryley  Jacks Possibly Injured  28 Mark Kheirallah Possibly Injured  31 Tyla Hepi Possibly Injured  1 Brandon Pickersgill Possibly Injured/Loaned out 19 Callum Field  Loaned out 22 Kyle Trout Loaned out 23 Loui McConnell Loaned out 24 Jacob Doyle Loaned out 30 Ben Mathiou Loaned out

[sentoffagain2]

   To quote Andrew Vause 22nd March {The age of the team is alarming.It will be broken up soon whether promoted or not.}I reckon we have 9 players 32 or over.Who is responsible for letting this happen.Eseh has been a breath of fresh air.He has plenty to learn but has age on his side his body will not be fully developed for another 3 years.Older players pick up more injuries FACT.

[marklaspalmas]

37	Adam Cuthberston
36	Brett Ferres
36	James Lockwood
35	Craig Kopczak
35	Junior Moors
34	Craig Hall
32	Jesse Sene-Lefao
32	Mark Kheirallah
32	Johnathon Ford
31	John Davies
31	Matty Wildie
31	Kyle Trout
30	Ben Hellewell
30	Joey Leilua
29	Jack Bussey
29	Josh Hardcastle
29	Ryley Jacks
28	Gareth Gale
28	Luke Briscoe
28	Tyla Hepi
27	Luke Cooper
27	Ben Mathiou
26	Connor Jones
24	Callum Field
24	Brandon Pickersgill
24	Bayley Gill
24	Morgan Smith
22	Loui McConnell
21	Jacob Doyle
Don't know	Sam Eseh

[marklaspalmas]

I know Ryley has just turned 30. I think these are early season ages.

[sentoffagain2]

1 hour ago, marklaspalmas said:

I know Ryley has just turned 30. I think these are early season ages.

   Thanks for that info as you know i am not always right with stats.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, marklaspalmas said:

Don't know	Sam Eseh

FROM Wakey on jan 12th 21

Wakefield Trinity are delighted to announce that Academy  Sam Eseh Junior signed First Team contract with the Club.

Eseh, 17, 

[J Phil Loxton]

It's an indictment of the lack of young lads coming through the amateur game. Top clubs are now under pressure to sign experience hence they are older. How long can it last though without a reserve system of some kind that we are never going to get soon. Sad state of affairs.

[marklaspalmas]

5 minutes ago, POR said:

FROM Wakey on jan 12th 21

Wakefield Trinity are delighted to announce that Academy  Sam Eseh Junior signed First Team contract with the Club.

Eseh, 17, 

He's 17?? Jeez he looks handy. I thought he was about 21.....

[marklaspalmas]

16 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   Thanks for that info as you know i am not always right with stats.

No probs.

Tbh I don't think age is really an issue unless the player just isn't up to it anymore. All our players over 30 will be on one year contracts. If this year is their last, so be it. Such is the rapid turnover of players, so can sign up a bunch every year, as Leigh have done in 2022. Building for the future is laudable but almost impossible in the Championship. See Harrison, Halton, etc.

[RogerT]

You'll be ok, a week off does wonders.

[Fevrover]

2 hours ago, RogerT said:

You'll be ok, a week off does wonders.

Could do with a fortnight lol.

[haskey]

Just a thought=

If Hall out of favour. Killer &Bussey injured. Who kicks the goals.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

7 minutes ago, haskey said:

Just a thought=

If Hall out of favour. Killer &Bussey injured. Who kicks the goals.

Luke Cooper or John Davies......

[sentoffagain2]

24 minutes ago, haskey said:

Just a thought=

If Hall out of favour. Killer &Bussey injured. Who kicks the goals.

  With so many players out injured Hall has to play.He is under contract and getting paid so Mark Campbell should sort it out with Mac.I don't want players coming back before they are fit enough.

[RobLambert]

A few mentions of Kheirallah being injured - have I missed something ?

[sentoffagain2]

37 minutes ago, RobLambert said:

A few mentions of Kheirallah being injured - have I missed something ?

 He has been playing on one leg the last two games.

[RobLambert]

11 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

37	Adam Cuthberston
36	Brett Ferres
36	James Lockwood
35	Craig Kopczak
35	Junior Moors
34	Craig Hall
32	Jesse Sene-Lefao
32	Mark Kheirallah
32	Johnathon Ford

I keep hearing about our Dads Army but I dont really agree.  Maybe we could do with a couple of younger NRL props (havent we been saying that all year) but of the older players we have on our books they are a massive part of what we do well.....  

Of the oldest of the old (above) we have some of the very best at this level. 

For me its way too early to write Ford off (and if its not working for him at Rovers I'm sure its not an age thing).  Kheiralla and Hall are as good as they have ever been.

In many cases their ability to do big minutes (Moors / Locky) are exceptional as are most of their injury records.  Koppy was outstanding last year and the start of this but looks to have been carrying a knock for a few weeks. 

Ferres and Cuthbertson - I dont think anyone thought that these 2 would be doing anything more than making up the numbers in case of injuries but Cuthbertson has looked very handy when he's played.

 

[marklaspalmas]

Just now, RobLambert said:

I keep hearing about our Dads Army but I dont really agree.  Maybe we could do with a couple of younger NRL props (havent we been saying that all year) but of the older players we have on our books they are a massive part of what we do well.....  

Of the oldest of the old (above) we have some of the very best at this level. 

For me its way too early to write Ford off (and if its not working for him at Rovers I'm sure its not an age thing).  Kheiralla and Hall are as good as they have ever been.

In many cases their ability to do big minutes (Moors / Locky) are exceptional as are most of their injury records.  Koppy was outstanding last year and the start of this but looks to have been carrying a knock for a few weeks. 

Ferres and Cuthbertson - I dont think anyone thought that these 2 would be doing anything more than making up the numbers in case of injuries but Cuthbertson has looked very handy when he's played.

 

Agree with all that.

[RobLambert]

3 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

 He has been playing on one leg the last two games.

Yep couldnt understand why he carried on against Bradford but seemed to last longer against Leigh before he started hobbling around.  I'd assumed it was a dead leg and nothing serious.  he did take a late knock but I thought he looked ok ?

[Fevrover]

6 hours ago, RobLambert said:

I keep hearing about our Dads Army but I dont really agree.  Maybe we could do with a couple of younger NRL props (havent we been saying that all year) but of the older players we have on our books they are a massive part of what we do well.....  

Of the oldest of the old (above) we have some of the very best at this level. 

For me its way too early to write Ford off (and if its not working for him at Rovers I'm sure its not an age thing).  Kheiralla and Hall are as good as they have ever been.

In many cases their ability to do big minutes (Moors / Locky) are exceptional as are most of their injury records.  Koppy was outstanding last year and the start of this but looks to have been carrying a knock for a few weeks. 

Ferres and Cuthbertson - I dont think anyone thought that these 2 would be doing anything more than making up the numbers in case of injuries but Cuthbertson has looked very handy when he's played.

 

Exactly WHEN he's played,first Chisholm now Hall where's it all going to end ?

[lingaro]

Do you think if he'd had a bust up with the club he'd be modelling new merchandise for the summer bash? 

[The Phantom Horseman]

8 hours ago, RobLambert said:

I keep hearing about our Dads Army but I dont really agree.  Maybe we could do with a couple of younger NRL props (havent we been saying that all year) but of the older players we have on our books they are a massive part of what we do well.....  

Of the oldest of the old (above) we have some of the very best at this level. 

For me its way too early to write Ford off (and if its not working for him at Rovers I'm sure its not an age thing).  Kheiralla and Hall are as good as they have ever been.

In many cases their ability to do big minutes (Moors / Locky) are exceptional as are most of their injury records.  Koppy was outstanding last year and the start of this but looks to have been carrying a knock for a few weeks. 

Ferres and Cuthbertson - I dont think anyone thought that these 2 would be doing anything more than making up the numbers in case of injuries but Cuthbertson has looked very handy when he's played.

 

Terrific post,loads of good points in that.

I'll add that, although it's true that older players overall tend to be more injury prone, we did sign a really big squad to help counteract that. Moreover, you can't really predict who is going to get injured before the event. Cam King and Nu Brown must have been just about the two biggest "red flag" signings in terms of their lengthy injury histories, but I think most of us would describe them as very successful signings.

 

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

8 hours ago, RobLambert said:

Yep couldnt understand why he carried on against Bradford but seemed to last longer against Leigh before he started hobbling around.  I'd assumed it was a dead leg and nothing serious.  he did take a late knock but I thought he looked ok ?

For me I think Kheirallah deserves a lot of credit because it looks like he has been playing through the pain, especially on Monday where he continued to battle on, he clearly was nowhere near 100% and you could see him wincing yet still looked a threat at times.

I like Pickersgill a lot and hope he has a future with us but Kheirallah is on a different level for me. Really hope he can shake off that knock in the next couple of weeks.

[sentoffagain2]

   Kheirallah is a terrific player and is involved in our attacking moves.One fault is that he tends to come into the line to defend instead of staying 10m behind and defending deeper.But at the moment our backs do need a bit of help defending so he is probably helping them out.I have nowt against older players but for me 4 over 32's would be enough.When we had a top of Championship team under Powell the age was much lower as he can build a team.At present as an earlier poster has pointed out we do seem to just sign players because the are available not for the future development of the team.

[fevnut]

22 hours ago, marklaspalmas said:

37	Adam Cuthberston
36	Brett Ferres
36	James Lockwood
35	Craig Kopczak
35	Junior Moors
34	Craig Hall
32	Jesse Sene-Lefao
32	Mark Kheirallah
32	Johnathon Ford
31	John Davies
31	Matty Wildie
31	Kyle Trout
30	Ben Hellewell
30	Joey Leilua
29	Jack Bussey
29	Josh Hardcastle
29	Ryley Jacks
28	Gareth Gale
28	Luke Briscoe
28	Tyla Hepi
27	Luke Cooper
27	Ben Mathiou
26	Connor Jones
24	Callum Field
24	Brandon Pickersgill
24	Bayley Gill
24	Morgan Smith
22	Loui McConnell
21	Jacob Doyle
Don't know	Sam Eseh

Sam Eseh is 18. 19th birthday in a fortnight. dob: 30/06/2003.