Match thread: Championship Rd 21. Widnes v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 7th August 2022.

[marklaspalmas]

A predictable defeat at the Bash which will only reinforce how you feel depending on what kind of fan you are.

If you're a pessimist, well, Leigh recorded a comfortable 9 tries to 3 win which puts us a long way behind them as favourites to go up.

If you're an optimist, there was enough there at Headingley to know that with some key absentees back, we can match them on our day.

On to what is an intriguing game. We slaughtered a dismal Widnes team at the beginning of May, but John Kear has turned them around despite a Bash loss to Barrow.

Hepi may be up before the beak, Ford and Gale both did ok after an absence. Cooper, Davies, JSL and Lockwood will be keen to be back. Bussey, Jacks and Koppy will have to wait.

Just six more games now to the playoffs including this one, so a convincing show would be a big boost to morale.

Edited August 1, 2022 by marklaspalmas
Typo

[David Shepherd]

Thought the effort, if not quite the execution was much improved against Leigh.

Still too many silly errors and a woeful completion rate.

Time to start finding some form, we're very much entering the business end of the season.

Still not convinced McDermot is the man for the job, but it's too late now.

[Michael Bates]

Will be interesting to see how both teams have changed since we last played them. Widnes at home were one of the worst teams I've seen for a long time.

[Steve Slater]

The player I fear most is back rower Adam Lawton, former Salford player. He played the week before last when they beat Batley but didn't feature in the Summer Bash. I wonder if he's injured? 

Wouldn't mind him at Fev for next season!

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Steve Slater said:

The player I fear most is back rower Adam Lawton, former Salford player. He played the week before last when they beat Batley but didn't feature in the Summer Bash. I wonder if he's injured? 

Wouldn't mind him at Fev for next season!

He picked up a two game ban for a high shot agaist thunder so NO barrow or FEV

[The Phantom Horseman]

35 minutes ago, Steve Slater said:

The player I fear most is back rower Adam Lawton, former Salford player. He played the week before last when they beat Batley but didn't feature in the Summer Bash. I wonder if he's injured? 

Wouldn't mind him at Fev for next season!

He's absolutely massive and does give plenty of strike near the line but he's a bit of a liability too, penalty machine and easy to target when he's defending. Can get rattled too, I think he knocked on four or five times in the first half when we played Widnes at their place last year when Davies and Ferres ganged up on him.

[wasginger]

4 hours ago, Steve Slater said:

The player I fear most is back rower Adam Lawton, former Salford player. He played the week before last when they beat Batley but didn't feature in the Summer Bash. I wonder if he's injured? 

Wouldn't mind him at Fev for next season!

I noticed him last year, he's a big lad and if given the right pass is devastating near the line. I just thought he needed a good coach to encourage him to run even harder that what he did. Sadly this season when I've seen him, even though it's only a few times, I wouldn't want him anywhere near. He's lazy both in defence and when he should be helping his other forwards out clearing their line. Now whether Kear can kick him up the backside and get him believing how good a player he is. Time will tell, but just having the size isn't enough for me. 

[Steve Slater]

30 minutes ago, wasginger said:

I noticed him last year, he's a big lad and if given the right pass is devastating near the line. I just thought he needed a good coach to encourage him to run even harder that what he did. Sadly this season when I've seen him, even though it's only a few times, I wouldn't want him anywhere near. He's lazy both in defence and when he should be helping his other forwards out clearing their line. Now whether Kear can kick him up the backside and get him believing how good a player he is. Time will tell, but just having the size isn't enough for me. 

That's the trouble with most players dropping down from Super League - They have their strengths and they have their weaknesses.

[lingaro]

13 hours ago, wasginger said:

I noticed him last year, he's a big lad and if given the right pass is devastating near the line. I just thought he needed a good coach to encourage him to run even harder that what he did. Sadly this season when I've seen him, even though it's only a few times, I wouldn't want him anywhere near. He's lazy both in defence and when he should be helping his other forwards out clearing their line. Now whether Kear can kick him up the backside and get him believing how good a player he is. Time will tell, but just having the size isn't enough for me. 

Fit in well then.. 

[jamescolin]

Any news on Bussey, Davies and ISL?

[haskey]

Expected squad for Widnes game. but Lockwood missing assuming he must have joined the injured. 

The team must perform as either Fax or Batley will be breathing down our 2nd place neck

[Fevrover]

14 minutes ago, haskey said:

Expected squad for Widnes game. but Lockwood missing assuming he must have joined the injured. 

The team must perform as either Fax or Batley will be breathing down our 2nd place neck

Widnes and Barrow away will be hard games and we need to be at our best. 

[jamescolin]

58 minutes ago, haskey said:

Expected squad for Widnes game. but Lockwood missing assuming he must have joined the injured. 

The team must perform as either Fax or Batley will be breathing down our 2nd place neck

Can you let me know the line up please

[bigbaldnmad]

[marklaspalmas]

Just one change to the 21.

Lockwood out, Davies in.

Let's see if JD, Briscoe, JSL or Coops make it back into the XVII

[The Phantom Horseman]

Obviously this game is likely to be a very different type of contest to the one earlier in the season when Widnes were without a coach and in disarray, Kear does seem to have got them back on track and their win at Batley 2 weeks ago shows they have to be respected, especially on their own plastic pitch. Still think we should be too strong for them though.

Not surprised to see that Koppy isn't back yet given the surface and his earlier knee injury, I wouldn't rush anyone back this week.

Would be nice to get a convincing win and start building towards the play-offs.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by The Phantom Horseman

[sentoffagain2]

1 hour ago, marklaspalmas said:

Just one change to the 21.

Lockwood out, Davies in.

Let's see if JD, Briscoe, JSL or Coops make it back into the XVII

  John Davies and Briscoe  will be in the 17 for Widnes.Both given a week off against Leigh in a game we had little chance of winning .Don't know about Locky but expect him to be involved soon.As i have said before JSL is very poor on defence but given the right ball ok in attack.Coops always tries  but the fact he has been at the club over 10 years and not nailed down a starting spot tells a story.However he does bring plenty to the team or we wouldn't have kept him all this time.

[marklaspalmas]

Which winger will he dropped for Briscoe? Apparently he had a hamstring thing last week.

 

[David Shepherd]

Were we as bad as the score line suggests?

[jamescolin]

Can't have been all bad as we won. Widnes recent record is good.

[Monkeymagic22]

A win is a win, but there's no many signs that we are likely to challenge Leigh, or beat Fax/Batley in the playoffs.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Wasn't at the game but tempted to vote for the new co-commentator on the MOTM thread. A very assured performance!

[Michael Bates]

2 hours ago, jamescolin said:

Can't have been all bad as we won. Widnes recent record is good.

Widnes are a mid table team that have lost more games than they have won. We're supposedly building for a grand final charge. This is not a good result.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

Ouch....

 

[Monkeymagic22]

10 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

Widnes are a mid table team that have lost more games than they have won. We're supposedly building for a grand final charge. This is not a good result.

Clearly Widnes have improved recently though, as shown by their win at Batley.