Fri 17th-Sun 19th Feb: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[Daft old hooker]

Got to say I thought this was going to be a tight game and didn’t like to know who to call. Interesting to see how Sheffield will go clearly looking good early on.

[Tommygilf]

Batley really weren't that bad, Sheffield will be/are chuffed to bits with that both in attack and defence. Much improved from last season.

[Niels]

4 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Comfortable win for Sheffield tonight. I don't see the result as a shock but the manner of it is. Sheffield have put together a really good team and I thought that was clear when they played us the other week and I think they will make the playoffs this year. Is this Batley's downfall year? They have too good a team not to come good surely.

Unfortunately Gilmour and Hooley are virtually impossible to replace with equivalent players at this level.

As an opposition fan which player(s) do you think are key for Batley now they are gone?

Halifax looked good last year and I think will be challenging?

 

[Northern Eel]

The continued belief that Batley will come good from many posters is not built on firm foundations. Unless they boost the squad, it will, as I predicted before the start of the season, be a tough one. They’ve out-performed massively over the last few years. 

[georgeb1]

6 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

Eagles on to London next. If they win there really are in the hunt for a playoff spot. 

Way too early for playoff talk.

[The Blues Ox]

6 hours ago, Niels said:

Unfortunately Gilmour and Hooley are virtually impossible to replace with equivalent players at this level.

As an opposition fan which player(s) do you think are key for Batley now they are gone?

Halifax looked good last year and I think will be challenging?

 

I think everything at Batley is built on how good their pack has been the last few seasons and that will have to be the case again so its interesting to see them getting rolled early in the season.

For Fax the aim will be to break in to the top 2 but I would be disappointed with less than 3rd with the team we have. 

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said:

I think everything at Batley is built on how good their pack has been the last few seasons and that will have to be the case again so its interesting to see them getting rolled early in the season.

For Fax the aim will be to break in to the top 2 but I would be disappointed with less than 3rd with the team we have. 

So why, elsewhere, are you calling for DR players to be brought in after 2 games? 

[Griff]

5 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

For Fax the aim will be to break in to the top 2 but I would be disappointed with less than 3rd with the team we have. 

A game against Sheffield which could easily have been lost and a fairly comprehensive defeat at Fev last week doesn't really justify your optimism.  

But it's early days - 25 games to go, DR players to come in from Cas, things can change.

[The Blues Ox]

3 hours ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

So why, elsewhere, are you calling for DR players to be brought in after 2 games? 

Nice twist but not exactly saying lets bring in loads of players on DR in to our team but more saying the one who has been named in the squad should play on Sunday. Why would I say that? Because I want to see the best team on the pitch for Fax every week obviously to give us the best chance of winning. 

35 minutes ago, Griff said:

A game against Sheffield which could easily have been lost and a fairly comprehensive defeat at Fev last week doesn't really justify your optimism.  

But it's early days - 25 games to go, DR players to come in from Cas, things can change.

Maybe you underestimate your team? How many other teams will go to Fev and get comprehensive defeats? But we will see, maybe its just like last year when people wrote us off after poor early form and we still managed to finish 3rd or maybe our team isn't as good as last year and a few teams have over taken us. I think we will be right but time will tell. 

[spanishknight]

Knights 18 nil down at H.T. not too bad when you look at the team 

[Fevrover]

30 minutes ago, spanishknight said:

Knights 18 nil down at H.T. not too bad when you look at the team 

Not many will win in Toulouse.

[Barley Mow]

FT - Toulouse 36 - 0 York

[Hopping Mad]

Off to Keighley tomorrow. As a neutral, hoping for the close game a number of posters are predicting. I daresay Cougars have Newcastle at home down as 'must win'.

[Griff]

What are the odds against every game on this round finishing 36-0?

[Daft old hooker]

5 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Nice twist but not exactly saying lets bring in loads of players on DR in to our team but more saying the one who has been named in the squad should play on Sunday.

That’s not what Cas are suggesting on Fakebook said squad players will be going to play with Fax and academy to midlands 

[Fevrover]

32 minutes ago, Daft old hooker said:

That’s not what Cas are suggesting on Fakebook said squad players will be going to play with Fax and academy to midlands 

It's ok now that Fev aren't using it . 

[Zilla Budgie]

Impressive start by Toulouse, haven't got the biggest squad have they ? But their 1st choice starting XIII will take some beating.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Zilla Budgie

[kiggy]

7 hours ago, Zilla Budgie said:

Impressive start by Toulouse, haven't got the biggest squad have they ? But their 1st choice starting XIII will take some beating.

Tough first half to be honest, York were on top for the last 15mins of the 1st half. There will be some sore bodies this morning in the TO camp Good to see a nice group of York supporters had made the trip.

I watched the Saints Penrith game in the morning and I couldn't help thinking how on earth Toulouse managed to beat Saint's last season. The gap between the two sides seems enormous.

[Fevrover]

19 minutes ago, kiggy said:

Tough first half to be honest, York were on top for the last 15mins of the 1st half. There will be some sore bodies this morning in the TO camp Good to see a nice group of York supporters had made the trip.

I watched the Saints Penrith game in the morning and I couldn't help thinking how on earth Toulouse managed to beat Saint's last season. The gap between the two sides seems enormous.

Didn't Saints rest a few ? Not sure now.

[kiggy]

14 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Didn't Saints rest a few ? Not sure now.

• 1 Jack Welsby
• 2 Josh Simm
• 3 Konrad Hurrell
• 4 Mark Percival
• 5 Tommy Makinson
• 6 Jonny Lomax
• 7 Lewis Dodd
• 8 Matthew Lees
• 9 Joey Lussick
• 10 Agnatius Pa'asi
• 11 Curtis Sironen
• 12 Morgan Knowles
• 13 Louie McCarthy- Scarsbrook

[TrueBull]

8 hours ago, Zilla Budgie said:

Impressive start by Toulouse, haven't got the biggest squad have they ? But their 1st choice starting XIII will take some beating.

As has been said elsewhere, not the biggest squad but still 20 more full time players than every other team in the division 

[kiggy]

6 minutes ago, TrueBull said:

As has been said elsewhere, not the biggest squad but still 20 more full time players than every other team in the division 

True, although probably not a question for you but how many full time players are in the Fév squad? They can't all have proper jobs as well? I can't quite see Johno Ford stacking shelves in Lidl ! 

It will show though at the end of the season, TO and Fév having more full time players should be the top 2 teams. Anyone else getting one of those two spots would have done exceptionally well.

[The Phantom Horseman]

1 hour ago, kiggy said:

True, although probably not a question for you but how many full time players are in the Fév squad? They can't all have proper jobs as well? I can't quite see Johno Ford stacking shelves in Lidl ! 

 

Why do you think we signed two half backs who are 6'4" and 6'2" respectively? Not everyone can reach the top shelves for that precious tub of Norpak butter or Nutoka spread!

[The Phantom Horseman]

3 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

In a way few will try. Any players carrying knocks who you are relying on will rest them vs Toulouse away because you won’t win and zero point having best players out for winnable games. 

No one is beating Toulouse at home.

Are you saying that Fev will be so far clear of Toulouse by the time they travel to France on September 16th for the away league game that they will be resting players and thus Toulouse will win?

Seriously though, the narrative seems to have turned on its head from Toulouse looking set to struggle to now being unbeatable at home, and it may well be that most teams don't give them much of a game over there. I do think you're right in that most teams will rest players for their games at Toulouse, but if there's a team that stays close to them, whether it's Fev or someone else, they'll want to win in Toulouse to try and gain home advantage for the play-offs.

 

[Fevrover]

16 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

In a way few will try. Any players carrying knocks who you are relying on will rest them vs Toulouse away because you won’t win and zero point having best players out for winnable games. 

No one is beating Toulouse at home.

Well I hope Sean Long isn't reading this ,i certainly want to win at Toulouse.