Sat 16th-Sun 17th Jul: The Betfred Championship (Non-TV) Match Thread

[The Phantom Horseman]

15 hours ago, wasginger said:

I'm sorry David but that's so over the top. We're in 2nd place, admittedly our try line defence has been shocking but that has been down to individuals dropping off tackles and nothing to do with defensive structures. Just watch some of those Whitehaven tries one man committed the same mistake, that lead to 2 tries by the same Whitehaven player. You know I have to smile, when we were beating teams by blowout scores. Fans didn't want to see that as it was boring. We have close fought games and the attack is dire we can't score from our own half, we haven't players who play what's in front of them. Shouldn't have let Chizzy go. How many tries has Morgan Smith and Riley Jacks scored this season so far, and how have the majority of those been scored ? Calling McDermott names is childish at worst. Watch the interviews from yesterdays game, and come back and tell me those players don't care about their performance. As you see from my viewpoint my glass is half full. Having watched Fev for a long time, I can tell you of a lot of seasons worse than this. Rant over.

I think a lot of it comes down to expectations. The narrative for the Championship this season was that it would come down to a straight shoot-out between Leigh and Fev, and although it might still come to that by final day, Leigh have mostly steamrollered their opponents whereas Fev have been scratchy in plenty of games despite the results.

So although Fev have scored at least 42 points in 10 of their last 13 league games, the threshold for success/failure is very different. When Fev win easily, as wasginger mentions above, everyone shrugs their shoulders. Of course it's the same for Leigh, but they have been a level above Fev lately and most Championship teams can't even compete with them, whereas Fev look a fair bit more vulnerable and really haven't played especially well in recent weeks despite some big scores.

On form there probably isn't a lot between Fev, Batley and Fax in recent weeks, but Fev are seen as a massive scalp for Fax and Batley whereas the only team that's realistically seen as a scalp for Fev are Leigh, and when you aren't playing well enough to steamroller teams that must be a very hard thing for the players in terms of that extra 1% motivation. It works the same for other teams, of course, Batley were held to a draw by Whitehaven the week after beating Fev and Fax made heavy weather of winning against them, it's tough when you're favourites to win a game and your lesser-fancied opponents raise their game against you.

[The Phantom Horseman]

I think we've seen a similar thing with York, btw (albeit on a lesser budget). Back in 2019 they finished third in their first season following promotion after a terrific season with a relatively unheralded squad (see https://yorkcityknights.com/club/knights-unveil-2019-home-shirt-squad-numbers/), and James Ford was being mentioned as a likely SL coach in the near future, either with York or elsewhere.

Since then, they have made a string of high-profile signings such as Ryan Atkins, Kieran Dixon, Will Sharp, Danny Washbrook, Ben Jones-Bishop, Brendan O'Hagan, Jamie Ellis, Adam Cuthbertson, Danny Kirmond, Chris Clarkson, Pauli Pauli, Masi Matongo, nearly all from SL clubs, yet they aren't doing as well now as they were three years ago and there are even people on the York forum asking if Ford's time should be up. Expectations can be a burden, and sometimes being the plucky underdogs can be an advantage.

[Simon Hall]

51 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I think we've seen a similar thing with York, btw (albeit on a lesser budget). Back in 2019 they finished third in their first season following promotion after a terrific season with a relatively unheralded squad (see https://yorkcityknights.com/club/knights-unveil-2019-home-shirt-squad-numbers/), and James Ford was being mentioned as a likely SL coach in the near future, either with York or elsewhere.

Since then, they have made a string of high-profile signings such as Ryan Atkins, Kieran Dixon, Will Sharp, Danny Washbrook, Ben Jones-Bishop, Brendan O'Hagan, Jamie Ellis, Adam Cuthbertson, Danny Kirmond, Chris Clarkson, Pauli Pauli, Masi Matongo, nearly all from SL clubs, yet they aren't doing as well now as they were three years ago and there are even people on the York forum asking if Ford's time should be up. Expectations can be a burden, and sometimes being the plucky underdogs can be an advantage.

I reckon we learned a bit from 2020/2021's signings and a few of them probably set the club back a few years with the money they took for the effort they didn't give, so are trying to blood some young local lads who are doing very well, now we've lost 3 on the bounce while playing poorly against decent teams everyone is losing their minds. Still 5th, probably end up in 6th and nowhere near relegation. In the Championship. I'd have taken that all day long.

Christ, in 2015 we in League 1, playing at the local RU club or amateur grounds if we were lucky, training on school fields, naming just 13 players for a trip to Toulouse and the then owner was offering fans out on social media. Now I'm seeing fans say sack the coach and the new owner isn't doing enough. Nice one.

 

 

[DemonUK]

Fev will be fine when they sign Ben Crooks and Jamie Shaul, but I expect you will release one or two as well.  Seems to be the pattern at Fev.

[The Phantom Horseman]

49 minutes ago, DemonUK said:

Fev will be fine when they sign Ben Crooks and Jamie Shaul, but I expect you will release one or two as well.  Seems to be the pattern at Fev.

Fev just don't have the bottomless pit of money that Derek Beaumont seems to have, so it's inevitable that financial space has to be created for any new acquisitions.

[LeytherRob]

On 18/07/2022 at 17:51, Tommygilf said:

Wanting to finish just in the bottom half of a league you have no chance of winning, riveting!

Enough about Leeds season, we're supposed to be talking about the championship here...