Match thread. Championship Playoff semifinal. Featherstone Rovers v Batley. Sunday 25th September 2022

[J Phil Loxton]

11 hours ago, Piggy's mate said:

Damn 3 points off

Ha ha PM. Some on here were just 60 points off so you've got the gold medal. Well played.

[J Phil Loxton]

11 hours ago, distantdog said:

As a Batley supporter, it was a scary last 20 once you started throwing the ball around and Jacks started running. You played into our hands by trying to turn it into a forward battle initially, mainly because we stood up in the tackle and developed lots of second phase ball. 

Great game though! (I Know, I would say that!)

A bit more composure in the last ten minutes and Fev might have pinched it. BUT it would have been the biggest steal of the century. On three occasions you have been proven that you are a match for any club in the championship (I'm not counting Leigh as a championship side) but I hope you go there with as much hope and give them a decent game. But for heaven's sake let them win then we can still play you next season.

[J Phil Loxton]

2 hours ago, Bat Lad said:

Thanks to the Fev fans for their kind comments

Hope you come back bigger and stronger next year, although Im over the moon im a little sad we ended it for Fev.

Wish it could be both of us in the final.

Next week, well who knows, on paper we should get slaughtered but, ya never know.

All the best flat cappers.

Kind comments but realistic ones. Good luck next week against the most formidable side that's ever been in the championship. Enjoy your day and who knows?

[David Shepherd]

12 hours ago, Squidward said:

Feel for Mac. 

I don't. Hope he collected his P45 on his way out last night.  

[David Shepherd]

2 hours ago, Bat Lad said:

Thanks to the Fev fans for their kind comments

Hope you come back bigger and stronger next year, although Im over the moon im a little sad we ended it for Fev.

Wish it could be both of us in the final.

Next week, well who knows, on paper we should get slaughtered but, ya never know.

All the best flat cappers.

I think I'd become incontinent for the rest of my days if you manage to do a number on Leigh next week.  It would be the funniest thing in human history.  I'm tempted to go along and cheer you on.

[The Phantom Horseman]

I agree with most of the comments on here, I do think that we lost that game in the middle and not with the half backs though.

We repeatedly failed to bring the ball handler to the floor and allowed far too many offloads, and our discpline was especially poor in the first half. When you score 28 points at home in a semi final and lose it's probably not your half backs that are the main issue. For me although Morgan Smith has given his best every game in a Rovers shirt I can understand why he was left out, he has shown a good nose for the tryline but hasn't often shown the creative ability to unlock a defence and put his outside backs in space, Ford although he was very much rocks and diamonds yesterday did in the second half provide enough to suggest that he'd get Leilua and Briscoe the ball in space if paired with them regularly, one of the few positive things I took out of the game was that we might get to see that happen more next season, we need to make better use of them especially Joey next season and I don't think that's all been his fault.

For me the decisions that didn't work were more those to leave out Bussey, in particular, and Davies. Easy with hindsight because Sene-Lefao had had a couple of good games prior to the Batley one but for whatever reason he was miles below that form and indeed was withdrawn after just over half an hour, you wonder what Bussey and Davies thought seeing Connor Jones replacing him at back row. Batley scored two tries in that channel in the first half and then another in the second with a size mismatch between Walshaw and Jones from a yard out.

[Dog forever]

1 hour ago, David Shepherd said:

I don't. Hope he collected his P45 on his way out last night.  

I really can't see what all the slating of BM is all about. He got rovers to second in the league , semi finals of play offs. I dont think any other coach could have improved on that, given the squad leigh assembled this year 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Dog forever
Spelling mistakes

[Michael Bates]

7 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

I really can't see what all the slating of BM is all about. He got rovers to second in the league , semi finals of play offs. I dont think any other coach could have improved on that, given the squad leigh assembled this year 

I agree that second place was our limit (in the league) although I think most fans expected that we'd make the grand final. My issue is not with the result, it's how we got there. We've played some of the dullest, most boring rugby I've seen in my 30 years of going. Five drives and a (usually poor) kick. McDermott has experience of coaching physically equal (Leeds) or physically superior (Toronto) sides. When we haven't been able to outstrength teams, like yesterday, we've had no plan B and come unstuck. I'd be shocked if how we played in the last 20 minutes was anything to do with McDermott and wasn't just the players thinking "what do we have to lose"

[J Phil Loxton]

6 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

I really can't see what all the slating of BM is all about. He got rovers to second in the league , semi finals of play offs. I dont think any other coach could have improved on that, given the squad leigh assembled this year 

I know where you are coming from Df. The knives were out long before Batley beat us because of his unsettling nature ALLEGEDLY towards some of our top players. However the finger gets pointed to someone to blame when you are expected to win. But in reality what Batley have in abundance over Fev is Passion and togetherness and that sometimes lays at the door of the coach. But in sport things happen and it's OK when the better side prevails.

[Monkeymagic22]

20 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

I really can't see what all the slating of BM is all about. He got rovers to second in the league , semi finals of play offs. I dont think any other coach could have improved on that, given the squad leigh assembled this year 

We should have reached the final, although unlikely we'd have beaten Leigh. Performances haven't been great either. A lot of it is down to changes in players, although I've no idea if this was down to BM or MC?.

[David Shepherd]

20 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

I really can't see what all the slating of BM is all about. He got rovers to second in the league , semi finals of play offs. I dont think any other coach could have improved on that, given the squad leigh assembled this year 

Reaching the final was the minimum requirement. I could forgive the loss to a well drilled and motivated Batley team if it hadn't have been so predictable.

Our defensive is awful and has been since April. We play boring rugby. It really has been a chore turning up on Sunday for most of the season. 

I probably would have missed most games if I hadn't had a season ticket.  It's kind of been like being forced to go to church by your parents for most of the year.

[Dog forever]

3 hours ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

We should have reached the final, although unlikely we'd have beaten Leigh. Performances haven't been great either. A lot of it is down to changes in players, although I've no idea if this was down to BM or MC?.

I would have thought losing to Batley would have been easier to swallow rather than getting stuffed by Leigh. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Dog forever
Spelling mistake

[Monkeymagic22]

44 minutes ago, Dog forever said:

I would have thought losing to Batley would gave been easier to swallow rather than getting stuffed by Leigh. 

To be fair, neither is a great option.

[David Shepherd]

2 hours ago, Dog forever said:

I would have thought losing to Batley would have been easier to swallow rather than getting stuffed by Leigh. 

I don't think it was unreasonable for us to expect to beat Batley given the disparity in playing budgets.  Whereas we would expect a bit of hiding from a Leigh team that's miles ahead of everyone else.

[DEANO]

On 25/09/2022 at 18:03, eltel said:

fev got what they deserved just pathetic defence hopeless as usual like every game we play still it will save the thrashing from leigh next week. Just swap coaches and fev would have won comfortably. Not even complaining about halls 2 missed goals and batley knock on try. Either mac goes or the fans will.

You just did complain