Match thread: Pre-Season friendly. Featherstone Rovers v Castleford. Saturday 31st December 2022.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Castleford's website is full of praise for their youngsters' efforts against "a full strength Featherstone". Sounds like bad news for Elijah Taylor, Junior Moors, Jonno Ford, Caleb Aekins, Connor Jones and Gadwin Springer who will all presumably be playing on loan in League 1 soon 

[Daft old hooker]

23 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Castleford's website is full of praise for their youngsters' efforts against "a full strength Featherstone". Sounds like bad news for Elijah Taylor, Junior Moors, Jonno Ford, Caleb Aekins, Connor Jones and Gadwin Springer who will all presumably be playing on loan in League 1 soon 

And McKenzie Yei 

[sentoffagain2]

  I thought we played ok with plenty of effort and energy.Liked the quick passing giving the centres earlier ball than last season.A couple of good attacking kicks which players backed up.And not as much one man stuff down the middle as under Mac.Some good quick passes but also some careless ones not finding the man.That often happens pre and early season.Thought we were still a bit weak on a couple of occasions down the middle and Pickersgill was up with the defensive line when Cas scored their 2nd try.Improvement needed but i am sure it will come.

[Fevrover]

14 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

  I thought we played ok with plenty of effort and energy.Liked the quick passing giving the centres earlier ball than last season.A couple of good attacking kicks which players backed up.And not as much one man stuff down the middle as under Mac.Some good quick passes but also some careless ones not finding the man.That often happens pre and early season.Thought we were still a bit weak on a couple of occasions down the middle and Pickersgill was up with the defensive line when Cas scored their 2nd try.Improvement needed but i am sure it will come.

I was impressed with Lacan when they intercepted and looked certain to score, he was like a bullet and pulled off a great tackle for a little un.

[sentoffagain2]

5 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

I was impressed with Lacan when they intercepted and looked certain to score, he was like a bullet and pulled off a great tackle for a little un.

  Yes i forgot that he was aware and never gave up the chase and the Cas player gave up.Well done a try saved is good as one scored.

[Fevrover]

14 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

  Yes i forgot that he was aware and never gave up the chase and the Cas player gave up.Well done a try saved is good as one scored.

Definitely, i thought he was the mascot when they ran out for the game ,he's so small. Another thing today Sean Long was talking to fans and signing autographs and having photos with the fans,none of that last season.

[Rovers fev]

Thought the new players slotted in nicely was good to see the 2 young halves have good starts and Brad Day was back to his best for us pleased with cozza aswell in his stints, hankinson looks dangerous out wide also 

[Michael Bates]

Won the game based on having a better pack on the day as it seemed that was where most of Castleford's youth was. Thought we were a bit slow around the ruck, but could put that down to conditions and the amount of slowing down being allowed.

Still a good number of players to come in Ford, Jones, Moors, Yei, Taylor, Springer so good signs there.

Thought Cas' 7 and 9 looked really poor, 7 just wanted to give penalties away and 9 wanted a scrap. Broadbent showed more than he ever did for us today but I'm not sure where he fits in a Super League back line, perhaps he fills in as and when as a utility back?

 

 

[sentoffagain2]

   Nowt to do with the game but the car park is a disgrace.Large deep potholes filled with water it would serve the club right if drivers claimed  for damage to their cars.Not a good look for a progressive club.Just to fill them in and make the surface more even wouldn't cost more than one lower level players wages.

[Phil Briscoe]

I thought our execution was poor at times which we can put down to it being the first run out and the conditions. We bombed at least 5 tries which is why we never pulled away from them like we should have done. 
Locky was great in the first half an hour when we were still in the arm wrestle. Day and Davies got through a ton of work. The two new French lads showed some good touches. Lacans isn’t big for a prop but looks technically good and can play big minutes. Joey looked a bit fitter. Cas were game to be fair to them.

[Fevrover]

9 minutes ago, Phil Briscoe said:

I thought our execution was poor at times which we can put down to it being the first run out and the conditions. We bombed at least 5 tries which is why we never pulled away from them like we should have done. 
Locky was great in the first half an hour when we were still in the arm wrestle. Day and Davies got through a ton of work. The two new French lads showed some good touches. Lacans isn’t big for a prop but looks technically good and can play big minutes. Joey looked a bit fitter. Cas were game to be fair to them.

I didn't expect as big a crowd as that especially from c@$.

[bigbaldnmad]

4 hours ago, Fevrover said:

I didn't expect as big a crowd as that especially from c@$.

Anyone know what the attendance was?

[Fevrover]

Just now, bigbaldnmad said:

Anyone know what the attendance was?

Nothing announced or on official website.

[lingaro]

19 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

  Yes i forgot that he was aware and never gave up the chase and the Cas player gave up.Well done a try saved is good as one scored.

Looked like he had lead in his boots after halfway line certainly didn't look Super more Supper. 

[RobLambert]

18 hours ago, Phil Briscoe said:

I thought our execution was poor at times which we can put down to it being the first run out and the conditions. We bombed at least 5 tries which is why we never pulled away from them like we should have done. 
Locky was great in the first half an hour when we were still in the arm wrestle. Day and Davies got through a ton of work. The two new French lads showed some good touches. Lacans isn’t big for a prop but looks technically good and can play big minutes. Joey looked a bit fitter. Cas were game to be fair to them.

Lacans definitely isn't big for a prop 

[Phil Briscoe]

10 minutes ago, RobLambert said:

Lacans definitely isn't big for a prop 

*Cozza! 

[POR]

21 hours ago, Phil Briscoe said:

*Cozza! 

To be fair P he's bigger than Coops but on the positive side looking at the squad list we've got plenty of bigger props available so I would play him in the back three

[Daft old hooker]

Assuming Taylor will probably play at 13 that leaves Bussey, Day, Davies and Hardcastle for 2 second row places. Don’t see Cozza in the back row but I was impressed with him every team needs a workhorse prop.

[Phil Briscoe]

2 hours ago, POR said:

To be fair P he's bigger than Coops but on the positive side looking at the squad list we've got plenty of bigger props available so I would play him in the back three

Taller! Coops looked like he’d had plenty of Xmas pud when he turned out on NYE!

[The Phantom Horseman]

Pretty much a standard hit-out for the first pre-season game and hard to read too much into it especially as it was against a very young opposition.

Lacans had the biggest play of the game with that excellent cover tackle but all five Rovers tries were created by Riley Dean and judged on Long's comments after the game he was impressed, especially as it's only since this week that he's been training all week with us (as opposed to once a week with the remainder at Warrington).

I said when we signed Lacans that I thought he'd be a fan favourite but the issue for me is whether the has the creative skills to unlock defences, he's a good runner and a brave tackler but I suspect Fev social media is going to be full of people moaning if he doesn't get a starting spot.

Was good to see Brad Day going so well, he wasn't as effective in his second season for us as his first but that second season came after a really bad knee injury and it's often a couple of years before people recover fully from that sort of setback, if he's back to his 2019 form that would be huge for us.

Perhaps one player who will be a bit disappointed is Brandon Pickersgill as he threw the interception when we looked set to score which led to their first try and then came into the defensive line and missed the one-on-one tackle for Broadbent's try. With Aekins breathing down his neck he'll need a big game in the next pre-season match.

[HAVERCROFT10]

Agree on Pickersgill's errors Phantom. 

[POR]

When it comes to pre season I usually just go to see how the newbies look in the butchers stripe but this year I had two questions that I wanted answering first  after the turn around in the halfbacks I wanted to see if we had anybody who could unlock defences and second has brad got back to something like the player he was before his first injury after Sunday I think we are well on the road to answer both of them 

[jamescolin]

Just read the match summary in RL Express. Seemed biased towards Castleford. When is the friendly against Wakefield?Any idea of the crowd size for the Castleford game?

[gazza77]

2 hours ago, jamescolin said:

Just read the match summary in RL Express. Seemed biased towards Castleford. When is the friendly against Wakefield?Any idea of the crowd size for the Castleford game?

29th,2pm kick off according to the club website. 

[POR]

22 hours ago, Daft old hooker said:

Assuming Taylor will probably play at 13 

For the last two years he has been coming off the bench so I would do the same and start Jack B at 13

22 hours ago, Daft old hooker said:

. Don’t see Cozza in the back row but I was impressed with him every team needs a workhorse prop.

Playing for dragons reserves in elite onein his 50 games   played a lot at 13 so is well accustomed to the back row I f you look at the squad list and include junior we have a plethora of  workhorse props all bigger than him  who should get get the nod in the front row before him so think it would be a waste if we don't utilise his skills elsewhere

On 31/12/2022 at 16:42, Michael Bates said:

Thought Cas' 7 and 9 looked really poor, 7 just wanted to give penalties away and 9 wanted a scrap.

According to the examiner along side broadbent they were the standout players for them the halfback created solid platforms for his Tigers, and some of his passes were out of this world. and the hooker was always looking for openings, was aggressive and never closed his mouth.