Match thread: Pre-Season friendly. Wakefield v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 29th January 2023.

[marklaspalmas]

Our final warm up game is on Sunday at Wakefield.

Eight days before our opening league fixture, this match will provide more clues as to the XVII at will be selected at Keighley.

I've enjoyed everything we've seen so far, good defensive line and attacking patterns.

We have a good-sized squad, everyone has had a run-out bar the two LT injuries.

Hopefully, Leilua and Davies's knocks are not too serious.

Everyone will have their own idea of our best line up, but when we look at the quality of players who will miss out, it shows you what strength in depth we have.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of state we find Wakey's "stadium" in. After decades of wasting SKY cash and taking the michael, they finally seem to be doing something about Belle (sic) Vue.

[Daft old hooker]

Can’t make this one but with all the work that’s going on would imagine the capacity is going to be limited. 
 

Just asked question on main site only 2 sides open capacity is around 2000.

[jamescolin]

Have we a supporters bus going to the match?

[Steve Slater]

Will there be any seating available? My knee won't take standing for half a game, never mind the full 80!

[The Phantom Horseman]

Just now, Steve Slater said:

Will there be any seating available? My knee won't take standing for half a game, never mind the full 80!

It looks like there are four or five rows of seating in front of their hospitality cabins at the far end of the ground, but I can imagine they are going to be quite popular and don't know if they can be reserved.

The east stand is currently a building site and nowhere near finished yet and the north stand (the large terraced area behind the sticks that had a roof over it) also looks to be closed at the moment. so it's basically just the western terracing and then those few seats behind the posts at the far end.

See the video below from their first pre-season game

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Sadly Joey Leilua's mum died suddenly at the weekend and he's returning to Australia "for a short period with the full support of the club." Tough news for Joey especially when he's overseas.

[Daft old hooker]

Poor lad wish him and his family all the best.

[POR]

We all know that preseason is about giving players game time and getting them back into the hustle and bustle of proper rugby rather than the tippy tappy training sessions also working on attacking and defensive drills learnt in training so taking all that into consideration  at wakey I want to  see the two half's and the six forwards who will be starting next week playing  together in the first 30 and the last 20

[marklaspalmas]

Ex Fev players to watch on Sunday Morgan Smith and Sam Eseh

[fevnut]

20 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Ex Fev players to watch on Sunday Morgan Smith and Sam Eseh

And Tom Lineham!

[POR]

40 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

Ex Fev players to watch on Sunday Morgan Smith and Sam Eseh

Morgan scored two against fax

[The Phantom Horseman]

Things I'll be interested to see on Sunday:
1 Who starts on which side at half back? Dean played on the left against Cas, then Ford did so against HKR. My assumption since the Cas game was that Ford and Dean would be our halves for week 1, but if that was always Long's preference I'm surprised he didn't play Dean on the right against Cas.

2 Who starts on the wings? I still think Briscoe is favourite for one wing, I would have said Evans was favourite for the other spot but he didn't get much chance to shine against HKR and Gale played on the left wing and generally played very well.

3 Does he start with Jones again at 9? McDermott definitely had a preference for Wildie of his two 9s but I'm not sure that's going to be the case with Long.

4 Who plays in the first half amongst the forwards? For me it's looking like Koppy, Moors and Taylor are pretty sure of their spots in the 17 as middles, likewise Day and Bussey on the edge. If we play both hookers in round 1, that leaves the likes of Springer, Cozza, Yei, Lockwood and Hardcastle fighting for three spots. Not an easy choice!

[Michael Bates]

20 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Things I'll be interested to see on Sunday:
1 Who starts on which side at half back? Dean played on the left against Cas, then Ford did so against HKR. My assumption since the Cas game was that Ford and Dean would be our halves for week 1, but if that was always Long's preference I'm surprised he didn't play Dean on the right against Cas.

2 Who starts on the wings? I still think Briscoe is favourite for one wing, I would have said Evans was favourite for the other spot but he didn't get much chance to shine against HKR and Gale played on the left wing and generally played very well.

3 Does he start with Jones again at 9? McDermott definitely had a preference for Wildie of his two 9s but I'm not sure that's going to be the case with Long.

4 Who plays in the first half amongst the forwards? For me it's looking like Koppy, Moors and Taylor are pretty sure of their spots in the 17 as middles, likewise Day and Bussey on the edge. If we play both hookers in round 1, that leaves the likes of Springer, Cozza, Yei, Lockwood and Hardcastle fighting for three spots. Not an easy choice!

My two penneth

1. As impressive as Lacans has been, especially in defense, Ford has the experience and I can't help but feel we'll be obliged to select Dean or lose him

2. Briscoe and Evans, I don't think we signed him to sit behind Gale in the pecking order, although Gale did play very well on Friday and the heavier ground might suit his game over Evans

3. Yes, Jones must start, he's the best 9 in the competition

4. Springer, Cozza, Yei on the bench as impact players? Yes please! I think Lockwood or Cozza is probably where the decision sits

[The Phantom Horseman]

4 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

My two penneth

1. As impressive as Lacans has been, especially in defense, Ford has the experience and I can't help but feel we'll be obliged to select Dean or lose him

2. Briscoe and Evans, I don't think we signed him to sit behind Gale in the pecking order, although Gale did play very well on Friday and the heavier ground might suit his game over Evans

3. Yes, Jones must start, he's the best 9 in the competition

4. Springer, Cozza, Yei on the bench as impact players? Yes please! I think Lockwood or Cozza is probably where the decision sits

1 - Yes, Lacans has already become popular with the fans, but Dean created all 5 tries against Cas, Ford set up both clean breaks against HKR and as you say has the experience, I think Lacans will get some chances though if he isn't picked for round 1.

2- Probably right though the HKR game has just left a small doubt in my mind.

3 - Jones is lethal in space. I think some of what Wildie does around the ruck is under-rated, he knows how to suck in defenders before releasing his pass, but Jones certainly scares opponents more.

4 - I think Long is a big fan of Locky, he's retained the captaincy and Long was full of praise for him after the Cas game. Must admit I could see the thinking behind having Hardy on the bench too as he's more versatile than some of the others. Certainly don't envy Long his decisions.

[POR]

33 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

.if we play both hookers in round 1, that leaves the likes of Springer, Cozza, Yei, Lockwood and Hardcastle fighting for three spots. Not an easy choice!

It really is a no brainer for me three spots for Springer, Cozza, Yei ,and I would pick lacans as number  4

[jamescolin]

Is there parking available at the ground and how much is it for pensioners to get in for the match?

[POR]

26 minutes ago, jamescolin said:

Is there parking available at the ground and how much is it for pensioners to get in for the match?

colin on wakey web site no Concessions adults sitting or standing  £15

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, jamescolin said:

Is there parking available at the ground and how much is it for pensioners to get in for the match?

No parking the car park is covered in diggers etc building the new stand.

[jamescolin]

So where do we park if we go by car? 

[elppaxr2i]

On 22/01/2023 at 21:00, The Phantom Horseman said:

It looks like there are four or five rows of seating in front of their hospitality cabins at the far end of the ground, but I can imagine they are going to be quite popular and don't know if they can be reserved.

The east stand is currently a building site and nowhere near finished yet and the north stand (the large terraced area behind the sticks that had a roof over it) also looks to be closed at the moment. so it's basically just the western terracing and then those few seats behind the posts at the far end.

See the video below from their first pre-season game

 

Half of North stand is open by all accounts for Sundays game 

[elppaxr2i]

9 minutes ago, jamescolin said:

So where do we park if we go by car? 

Neighbouring streets or a lot park on Heath common and walk

if thats not possible tven theres always the bus

[Fevrover]

26 minutes ago, jamescolin said:

So where do we park if we go by car? 

A lot park down by the side of the Cemetery just across from the BP garage.

[jamescolin]

Thanks for your replies.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Having watched Wakefield's game against Halifax, I think it's fair to assume that they'll throw far more at us than Hull KR did (unless they play a load of kids from the start). This will be Wakefield's third pre-season game and unlike HKR against us they hit Halifax with plenty of attacking shapes with Lino pulling the strings and were fairly dominant in the first half, making yards easily and going 18-0 up with Halifax hardly having any attacking sets in that first half. I didn't think Halifax looked bad at all but they couldn't get a foothold in the game until the second half, when both teams made lots of substitutions.

As an aside, Junior Moors has just become a father again at the weekend, his wife gave birth the day after the HKR game so if we don't see him this weekend that will probably be why.

 

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Wakefield have named their squad (including the starting 13) and it looks a pretty strong one.

https://twitter.com/WTrinityRL/status/1618904145557360643

The only omissions I can see who might be in their 17 for round 1 are wing Jorge Taufua, back row Kelepi Tanginoa (who didn't play against Fax either and presumably is still not fully fit) and middle Jai Whitbread. Maybe a couple of others (Morgan Smith isn't included, nor Jordy Crowther or Josh Bowden) but basically it's a really strong squad, much closer to what will be their round 1 17 than the team Hull KR put out. It's also fairly similar to the team they put out against Halifax. Should be a real test for us.