Fri 24th-Sun 26th Jun: The Betfred Championship (Non-TV) Match Thread

[Fevrover]

34 minutes ago, Scubby said:

He also likes padding a squad out when it isn't necessary. It can potentially cause unrest at a club if it isn't done properly. 

Something isn't right by looks of it.

[JonM]

3 hours ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Thought Kear took over on 1st July.

So did I, and I read or heard something from the club that he was not able to be at the game this weekend, but it did look to be him on the touchline.

Parata and Davis ran rings round us in the first half, but obviously tough for Parata to play the full 80 minutes as he did. 

[westlondonfan]

London look like they are going to stay up despite their results as none of the other teams at the bottom can win either.

[gittinsfan]

6 hours ago, Jughead said:

Some club, Batley. When does overachieving end and being one of the best clubs outside of Super League begin?

Quite some time ago  actually.

[Harry Stottle]

14 hours ago, Jughead said:

Some club, Batley. When does overachieving end and being one of the best clubs outside of Super League begin?

Or put another way have Fev done well in taking a point of them this season?

Only said in jest to my Fev mates.

[Harry Stottle]

12 hours ago, David Shepherd said:

Never bought into the faux outrage over that one Harry, he was singing a tune appropriate to his then employer.

He's just a bit krap.  Congratulations on your promotion, we need a minor miracle to challenge you now.

Till the fat lady sings David, till the fat lady sings.

The last thing that should happen at Leigh is to take the foot of the gas and consider that home advantage in the final is a given to help in the promotion stakes, Mr Lam needs to instill this into his charges.

I also would not give up on trying to secure a halfback capable of driving the team around the park, we will be requiring one (at least) if we do get promoted also will this Batley victory make Leigh a better prospect for new signings? I hope so.

Mr Beaumont has said publicly he will do whatever is nessacary to secure promotion this or next season and after spending what he has already done a little more could be let's say "an assurance policy" for this season as long as all the others stay fit and healthy.

I may be forever the pessimist but I am not as confident as you that Leigh will be in SL next season.

[Harry Stottle]

12 hours ago, Scubby said:

He also likes padding a squad out when it isn't necessary. It can potentially cause unrest at a club if it isn't done properly. 

I remember reading on these pages the relief of some London fans when he went to Leeds, weren't London something like 3rd or 4th when he arrived and steadily started declining in his tenure.

[Scubby]

8 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

I remember reading on these pages the relief of some London fans when he went to Leeds, weren't London something like 3rd or 4th when he arrived and steadily started declining in his tenure.

He is a good coach and his record at Leeds speaks for itself. However, at both Toronto and Featherstone he built out an extended squad to try and get promotion - that's his way. It eventually worked for Toronto but it is costly and means some very able players that are just sitting around kicking their heels week-to-week. In the Championship this is a real luxury so you better get all the fundamentals right or it will likely cause some unrest in the squad.

[Harry Stottle]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

He is a good coach and his record at Leeds speaks for itself. However, at both Toronto and Featherstone he built out an extended squad to try and get promotion - that's his way. It eventually worked for Toronto but it is costly and means some very able players that are just sitting around kicking their heels week-to-week. In the Championship this is a real luxury so you better get all the fundamentals right or it will likely cause some unrest in the squad.

Yes to all with exception to your first statement, yes his record his good at Leeds and that can never be taken away, but behind the headlines I believe he was very fortunate to inherent the player's he had at his disposal, I doubt many coaches would have failed with that playing roster. My opinion of course.

[GUBRATS]

46 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Till the fat lady sings David, till the fat lady sings.

The last thing that should happen at Leigh is to take the foot of the gas and consider that home advantage in the final is a given to help in the promotion stakes, Mr Lam needs to instill this into his charges.

I also would not give up on trying to secure a halfback capable of driving the team around the park, we will be requiring one (at least) if we do get promoted also will this Batley victory make Leigh a better prospect for new signings? I hope so.

Mr Beaumont has said publicly he will do whatever is nessacary to secure promotion this or next season and after spending what he has already done a little more could be let's say "an assurance policy" for this season as long as all the others stay fit and healthy.

I may be forever the pessimist but I am not as confident as you that Leigh will be in SL next season.

If we can keep both body and mind healthy it should be nailed on Harry , but we've seen scenario's where both have failed at crucial times in the past to cost us , so like you , I'm not counting nothing , and I don't think Dereck will either 

[Griff]

14 hours ago, georgeb1 said:

Nah , rovers clear second for me.

Not so long since I was hearing that they were clear first.

A few injuries, a few midseason signings and things can change.

[meast]

What would happen to Featherstone's stockpile of players they've amassed over the last year if they don't get their one year in SL?

Would they all transfer to Leigh or would they be stuck with them?

How big, if any, would any financial implications be if Fev don't reach the promised land?

[David Shepherd]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

Till the fat lady sings David, till the fat lady sings.

The last thing that should happen at Leigh is to take the foot of the gas and consider that home advantage in the final is a given to help in the promotion stakes, Mr Lam needs to instill this into his charges.

I also would not give up on trying to secure a halfback capable of driving the team around the park, we will be requiring one (at least) if we do get promoted also will this Batley victory make Leigh a better prospect for new signings? I hope so.

Mr Beaumont has said publicly he will do whatever is nessacary to secure promotion this or next season and after spending what he has already done a little more could be let's say "an assurance policy" for this season as long as all the others stay fit and healthy.

I may be forever the pessimist but I am not as confident as you that Leigh will be in SL next season.

She might not be belting out Nessun Dorma just yet, but she's limbering up and having a gargle. I'd say you've a 99.99% chance of playing at Magic Weekend next year.

That loss to Batley has been coming for a few weeks, we've no go forward and no line speed. Our discipline is terrible.

We look like a team doing the bare minimum, there's no team spirit and to me it looks like Bacon Double Cheeseburger has lost the dressing room.

Mid season is not the ideal time to change coach, but that's the only thing I can see that will improve things. Even when we're winning, we're pretty krap to watch. 

 

[David Shepherd]

24 minutes ago, meast said:

What would happen to Featherstone's stockpile of players they've amassed over the last year if they don't get their one year in SL?

Would they all transfer to Leigh or would they be stuck with them?

How big, if any, would any financial implications be if Fev don't reach the promised land?

A good number of the pack will probably retire. They've a combined age in the thousands.

Kopczak has likely already played his last game of RL.

[David Shepherd]

31 minutes ago, Griff said:

Not so long since I was hearing that they were clear first.

A few injuries, a few midseason signings and things can change.

Not with this coach

[GUBRATS]

4 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

Not with this coach

I don't think he meant ' positively ' Dave

[phiggins]

Fev's aim now should be to make sure the gap between first and second doesn't get any wider before the Summer Bash. Then they can feel a win there will get them back to within a point (or even back top), with Leigh then having to play Barrow, Newcastle and York immediately after.

2 big issues for Leigh I think are half back and squad depth. Still not convinced by the likes of Reynolds and Hingano in the halves. And while our starting pack is very strong, not sure of the quality in reserve if any of Sidlow, Amone, Asiata, Stone or Wardle get injured.

Fat lady shouldn't even be readying her voice until the closing stages of the grand final. Or million pound game, or whatever it's called these days.

[LeytherRob]

16 minutes ago, phiggins said:

Fev's aim now should be to make sure the gap between first and second doesn't get any wider before the Summer Bash. Then they can feel a win there will get them back to within a point (or even back top), with Leigh then having to play Barrow, Newcastle and York immediately after.

2 big issues for Leigh I think are half back and squad depth. Still not convinced by the likes of Reynolds and Hingano in the halves. And while our starting pack is very strong, not sure of the quality in reserve if any of Sidlow, Amone, Asiata, Stone or Wardle get injured.

Fat lady shouldn't even be readying her voice until the closing stages of the grand final. Or million pound game, or whatever it's called these days.

In the pack, Chris Green will be fit in the next few weeks and we also have Ben Nakubuwai to come in. Half is a slight concern but Asiata played HB quite a few times in a NRL grand final winning team and Ipape started as a half so we have options available.

[sweaty craiq]

21 minutes ago, phiggins said:

Fev's aim now should be to make sure the gap between first and second doesn't get any wider before the Summer Bash. Then they can feel a win there will get them back to within a point (or even back top), with Leigh then having to play Barrow, Newcastle and York immediately after.

2 big issues for Leigh I think are half back and squad depth. Still not convinced by the likes of Reynolds and Hingano in the halves. And while our starting pack is very strong, not sure of the quality in reserve if any of Sidlow, Amone, Asiata, Stone or Wardle get injured.

Fat lady shouldn't even be readying her voice until the closing stages of the grand final. Or million pound game, or whatever it's called these days.

Reynolds has been superb after fully recovering from injury, most folk forget he had a bad anterior Cruciate injury in 2021 that ruined his preseason but he has got full confidence back now, he is taking the line on and his defence is great. I would definately take him into SL where you will need 3 halves and a hooker who can cover if needed. When does Lachlan arrive btw

[sentoffagain2]

1 hour ago, meast said:

What would happen to Featherstone's stockpile of players they've amassed over the last year if they don't get their one year in SL?

Would they all transfer to Leigh or would they be stuck with them?

How big, if any, would any financial implications be if Fev don't reach the promised land?

Most would be drawing their pension we have 9 players over 34.

[Harry Stottle]

16 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Nah, now he believes Fev and Leigh should go up then we should lock the door. I disagree that he is overrated, guy gets it done in playoffs and his record with Leeds is untouchable. If RL actually had more opportunities you would be kidnapping Batley´s coach, his teams are animals. 

"Now he believes Fev and Leigh should go up" he has more faces than the town hall clock.

I will never be convinced he is anything but overated, very much in the Brian Nobel class of having a good team to hand.

One of the big reasons Leigh are turning out the team they have is Mr Lam's presence at the club, I doubt it very much had anyone else been in charge we could have amassed the player's he has had influence in  signing, why would we swop him?

[LeytherRob]

13 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

No the main influence is money. We tend to overestimate the role coaches can have relative to cash. If Lam wasn´t there you´d still be putting a mental squad together based on budget. It´s why coaches that can squeeze out value (Batley coach, Ian Watson for yonks) are invaluable. 

True regarding certain coaches being able to squeeze out more value, but a Craig Lingard wouldn't have been able to attract the calibre of player we have from overseas, particularly those like Ipape, MacDonald and Blake Ferguson where there was either the PNG connection or working together for the Australian national team. A perfect example of this was the fact we tried to sign Nene MacDonald for last year when we were in SL.

 

I was fairly sceptical of Lams appointment due to the way Wigan were playing last season, but he's done a phenomenal job building a team from nothing at Leigh and whilst we still look a little clunky in attack from time to time, it's comfortably the best defending Leigh team i've seen in my lifetime. To be fair to Lam also, both Jai Field and Bevan French were injured pretty much all of last year and there is certainly an argument to be made that they have been central to Wigan's play this season. The season he did have French fit they were a missed penalty away from winning that grand final.

[phiggins]

2 hours ago, LeytherRob said:

In the pack, Chris Green will be fit in the next few weeks and we also have Ben Nakubuwai to come in. Half is a slight concern but Asiata played HB quite a few times in a NRL grand final winning team and Ipape started as a half so we have options available.

True, but if we go into the play offs with Green and Nakuwabei in place of two out of Amone, Sidlow and Asiata down the middle then we won't be as dominant as we have been, which has been a big factor in the two wins over fev. Also, not sure who the back up is for Stone and Wardle.

All about doing what we can to make sure key players are fit for the play offs, while winning games at the same time. Difficult balance to get right.

2 hours ago, sweaty craiq said:

Reynolds has been superb after fully recovering from injury, most folk forget he had a bad anterior Cruciate injury in 2021 that ruined his preseason but he has got full confidence back now, he is taking the line on and his defence is great. I would definately take him into SL where you will need 3 halves and a hooker who can cover if needed. When does Lachlan arrive btw

I think he's improving, but still a touch too slow in the fact he seems to get the ball and then look at what he wants to do, while other half backs have a plan when they're showing for the ball from the acting half back. Last tackle plays can seem a bit laboured with him at times.

But he doesn't miss his tackles and I think that's a big part of what Lam wants, so their are no weak links that have to stand on the wing.

[Wolford6]

3 hours ago, David Shepherd said:

She might not be belting out Nessun Dorma just yet,

 

 

Good. It's sung by a male tenor. It mean's "no one is allowed to sleep".

It's a favourite at Headingley.