Championship Round 24. Barrow v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 21st August 2022.

[The Phantom Horseman]

16 minutes ago, The Grinder said:

Sounds like concussion so Ford may miss the Workington game, see here: https://twitter.com/fevroversrlfc/status/1561413432171274244?s=21&t=vzlyYNWwvoZJPpc-p5bW1g

I did wonder whether the Workington game might have been earmaked to give Bayley Gill some playing time anyway. He started the corresponding away fixture near the start of the season only to suffer that bad injury. He's been training with the club following his stint at Dewsbury and Mac has spoken in relatively positive terms about him previously.

[sentoffagain2]

48 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I did wonder whether the Workington game might have been earmaked to give Bayley Gill some playing time anyway. He started the corresponding away fixture near the start of the season only to suffer that bad injury. He's been training with the club following his stint at Dewsbury and Mac has spoken in relatively positive terms about him previously.

  What would be the advantage of giving him game time at this stage of the season?I can't see him anywhere near our 17 in the remaining games after Workington.

[gazza77]

5 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

  What would be the advantage of giving him game time at this stage of the season?I can't see him anywhere near our 17 in the remaining games after Workington.

Cover in case of injuries or suspension, kind of like we're potentially facing right now. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

9 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

  What would be the advantage of giving him game time at this stage of the season?I can't see him anywhere near our 17 in the remaining games after Workington.

 

4 hours ago, gazza77 said:

Cover in case of injuries or suspension, kind of like we're potentially facing right now. 

Also, a couple more things. Firstly - with second place almost secure (and guaranteed if we beat Workington), playing Gill would enable us to rest Ford and thus reduce the risk of him getting injured for the play-offs. In fact if as seems likely the final game of the season at Halifax is a dead rubber we could see lots of changes to both teams for that game so it might not be much of a rehearsal for the potential semi-final between the two that could arise. At this stage of the season, with plenty of battered bodies around, coaches are likely to be very happy to rest starters for meaningless games.

Secondly, Mac does seem to like to give game time to reward fringe players whose efforts in training have pleased him. As I mentioned he started Gill at Workington early in the season having mentioned his efforts in training, and a couple of months ago he started Loui McConnell from out of the blue against Batley (admittedly we went on to lose that game, but I don't think that was down to McConnell's selection).

 

[The Blues Ox]

15 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

It's difficult to imagine it won't be Fev v Fax in the semis looking at the table and given York's recent implosions. Fax are certainly a better team than last year and at the moment don't look as worn down as they did at the backend last year.

There seem to be a lot of people who fancy Fax to turn us over if that is indeed the semi final. They clearly have been playing well and definitely have a chance in what should be a cracking game but I do wonder if they have the size to cope with our pack if we get a reasonably clear run with injuries/suspensions. We have some really big units in our pack in Kopczak, Springer and Eseh plus Moors who in my opinion has been our best forward this year despite his age.

A lot was made about Fax being unlucky in the game at POR earlier this year but despite not playing especially well we did score four tries to two and none of the four guys I mentioned above played. Springer has been really good since returning to us and whatever the reasons why Grix couldn't get along with him I'm happy he's with us.

The form book says it's hard to see either team getting close to Leigh in a final but I'd still rather see us get there and take our shot than get beat in a semi.

I can't wait if it does happen as I do not see anything between the two teams which compared to last season is a huge change where the last game was just a forgone conclusion. The positives for Fax, as I just mentioned on the Batley board, if you take out our horrible start then over the last 20 games of the season we are the 2nd form team in the league. Our performances as we have gone through the season are night and day away from our performance over at Post Office Road and I have said before its the best Fax team since 2010 where as I would have to question if Fev have got better since that day.

The negatives for Fax, our bad start did seem to be a lot to do with conditions of grounds and as PH mentions size wise we do not really have the players to play those sorts of conditions and get on top of teams, we are built to be very mobile to get around the pitch and won't fatigue like the larger teams. The problem is by the time the playoffs come around we could very much be back to playing in those conditions and Keyes, Jouffret, and JWH don't look as electrifying running in treacle. There is always questions as to if its better to have a week off or to play right through but there looks to be a decent chance that Fax will face either Barrow or Batley in their first game which I would not expect to be easy in which case that might slightly favor Fev.

The negatives for both teams are that Leigh are going to have a cake walk in their semi while these two teams would bash each other about if it were to happen which would not improve either teams chances in a final.

[The Phantom Horseman]

4 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

 There is always questions as to if its better to have a week off or to play right through but there looks to be a decent chance that Fax will face either Barrow or Batley in their first game which I would not expect to be easy in which case that might slightly favor Fev.
 

I'd always, always choose to have a week off at the backend of the season rather than play right through.

To avoid finishing 6th York will probably need to win their last 3 games as they are already behind Batley and Barrow. They should beat Workington but Sheffield at home and even Newcastle away might be tricky in their current form.

Batley are unlikely to get anything from their trip to Leigh but should win their other 2 games against Dewsbury and Bradford, and if Barrow beat Newcastle and Dewsbury they will have a lot more to play for than London in their final game. Fax v York looks the likely match up for you.

[Fevrover]

2 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

I can't wait if it does happen as I do not see anything between the two teams which compared to last season is a huge change where the last game was just a forgone conclusion. The positives for Fax, as I just mentioned on the Batley board, if you take out our horrible start then over the last 20 games of the season we are the 2nd form team in the league. Our performances as we have gone through the season are night and day away from our performance over at Post Office Road and I have said before its the best Fax team since 2010 where as I would have to question if Fev have got better since that day.

The negatives for Fax, our bad start did seem to be a lot to do with conditions of grounds and as PH mentions size wise we do not really have the players to play those sorts of conditions and get on top of teams, we are built to be very mobile to get around the pitch and won't fatigue like the larger teams. The problem is by the time the playoffs come around we could very much be back to playing in those conditions and Keyes, Jouffret, and JWH don't look as electrifying running in treacle. There is always questions as to if its better to have a week off or to play right through but there looks to be a decent chance that Fax will face either Barrow or Batley in their first game which I would not expect to be easy in which case that might slightly favor Fev.

The negatives for both teams are that Leigh are going to have a cake walk in their semi while these two teams would bash each other about if it were to happen which would not improve either teams chances in a final.

Honestly can you see ANY team beating Leigh at Leigh in the final ?

[The Blues Ox]

2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I'd always, always choose to have a week off at the backend of the season rather than play right through.

To avoid finishing 6th York will probably need to win their last 3 games as they are already behind Batley and Barrow. They should beat Workington but Sheffield at home and even Newcastle away might be tricky in their current form.

Batley are unlikely to get anything from their trip to Leigh but should win their other 2 games against Dewsbury and Bradford, and if Barrow beat Newcastle and Dewsbury they will have a lot more to play for than London in their final game. Fax v York looks the likely match up for you.

If Im honest the game I want to avoid is Batley, just something about them always makes it a tough game against them no matter the circumstances. York would obviously be the easiest game given their current form and to be honest Im not too fussed about playing Barrow, we have a bit of style clash with them as we both play very similar games and we have disposed of them pretty easily in both the games we have played against them. 

13 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Honestly can you see ANY team beating Leigh at Leigh in the final ?

Nope unless Leigh have a total disaster but all the pressure is on them and it wouldn't be the first time that made a difference.

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Honestly can you see ANY team beating Leigh at Leigh in the final ?

Funny thing though F with all the vagaries intricacies  and  somtimes the downright silliness in RL games the best team on paper doesn't always win