Match thread: Challenge Cup 3rd Round: Featherstone Rovers v Halifax Panthers. Sunday 12th March 2023.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

18 minutes ago, J Phil Loxton said:

Another option could be Hall to fullback and Pickersgill to stand off. I think he has played there before at Bradford.

Played there against us in June '21 (we won 44-0)

[Monkeymagic22]

Think it’s got to be Wildie and Lacans as half backs. Maybe Hall back in as full back. 

[Wolfey Rovers]

Pickersgill can't pass without it being intercepted... He needs to kick on this season.

[lingaro]

How far is Aikens off? 

[Fevrover]

13 hours ago, Wolfey Rovers said:

Pickersgill can't pass without it being intercepted... He needs to kick on this season.

In the lads defence he hasn't played for months and isn't going to be match fit yet, iam sure he'll get better. It's not long since fans were 'going mad' that we let him go on loan to Bradford.

[The Phantom Horseman]

22 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

In the lads defence he hasn't played for months and isn't going to be match fit yet, iam sure he'll get better. It's not long since fans were 'going mad' that we let him go on loan to Bradford.

I feel for him a bit in that he made his return on a night when catching high kicks seemed almost impossible for players on both sides, for whatever reasons. Tom Holmes even dropped one after he had let it bounce! There's definitely something about a cold, dampish night under the lights at POR that seems to make catching high kicks tricky (remember Aekins for Leigh last year?), maybe there was a high crosswind too.

[Monkeymagic22]

25 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

In the lads defence he hasn't played for months and isn't going to be match fit yet, iam sure he'll get better. It's not long since fans were 'going mad' that we let him go on loan to Bradford.

I agree, Pickersgill is a class act, who just needs matches to get back up to his usual level. 

[POR]

25 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

In the lads defence he hasn't played for months and isn't going to be match fit yet, iam sure he'll get better. It's not long since fans were 'going mad' that we let him go on loan to Bradford.

So did the Bulls fans after we signed him F but the funny thing about the Bulls  fans  after monday their consensus  of opinion was "I see he still can't catch a high ball"

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, POR said:

So did the Bulls fans after we signed him F but the funny thing about the Bulls  fans  after monday their consensus  of opinion was "I see he still can't catch a high ball"

He will get back to normal ( Fev normal not Bulls normal lol) eventually.

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I feel for him a bit in that he made his return on a night when catching high kicks seemed almost impossible for players on both sides, for whatever reasons. Tom Holmes even dropped one after he had let it bounce! There's definitely something about a cold, dampish night under the lights at POR that seems to make catching high kicks tricky (remember Aekins for Leigh last year?), maybe there was a high crosswind too.

The lighting can't have helped  

[The Phantom Horseman]

Squads named. Lockwood, Ford, Evans, Kheirallah, Hepi, Ford and Dean the 7 missing. Don't know if Evans has an injury but Aekins is in the squad, whether that means he's recovered or not who knows. Joe Keyes is named in the Fax squad though whether that's just to pad out the 21 names or whether he's fit to play I'm not sure.

https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre/match-preview/2254858

[J Phil Loxton]

5 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Squads named. Lockwood, Ford, Evans, Kheirallah, Hepi, Ford and Dean the 7 missing. Don't know if Evans has an injury but Aekins is in the squad, whether that means he's recovered or not who knows. Joe Keyes is named in the Fax squad though whether that's just to pad out the 21 names or whether he's fit to play I'm not sure.

https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre/match-preview/2254858

Wondered about Aekins as he was pictured on Facebook at a training session. Good if he's back. Think Joe Keyes was out last week due to a head injury he picked up at Widnes so I reckon he could be cleared for this week.

[POR]

27 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Squads named. Lockwood, Ford, Evans, Kheirallah, Hepi, Ford and Dean the 7 missing. Don't know if Evans has an injury but Aekins is in the squad, whether that means he's recovered or not who knows. Joe Keyes is named in the Fax squad though whether that's just to pad out the 21 names or whether he's fit to play I'm not sure.

https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre/match-preview/2254858

I would have thought Caleb is fit if we were just padding out the squad we could have named kyle again who is yet to feature OR

maybe just maybe he's been named to let us mere mortals know that fears of him being mortally injured are merely figments of our imagination

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by POR

[PonteBlue]

Jack Bussey has played stand off. Wildie more likely to get the call tho' IMO.

[The Phantom Horseman]

37 minutes ago, PonteBlue said:

Jack Bussey has played stand off. Wildie more likely to get the call tho' IMO.

When Bussey played that "prop half" role against Toronto a few years ago he had a blinder. But I still can't forget that year he was earmarked to replace Andy Kain as our starting half back and given squad number 6 compared to Kain's 23 by (shudders) John Bastian.

Bussey, Hall and Pickersgill have all played half back before, even John Davies has filled in as an emergency half and Aekins could at a pinch too, but you'd still think it will be Lacans and Wildie.

[Michael Bates]

30 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

When Bussey played that "prop half" role against Toronto a few years ago he had a blinder. But I still can't forget that year he was earmarked to replace Andy Kain as our starting half back and given squad number 6 compared to Kain's 23 by (shudders) John Bastian.

Bussey, Hall and Pickersgill have all played half back before, even John Davies has filled in as an emergency half and Aekins could at a pinch too, but you'd still think it will be Lacans and Wildie.

He also did it at Bradford in the cup and had an equally great game. I think it was the game where they scored 3 times in what seemed like the last 30 seconds and then won in extra time?

I think the likely choice is Wildie plays there and Jones does 80 however.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Michael Bates

[POR]

Apparently Bradford Bulls head coach Mark Dunning says that he had a productive meeting with RFL head of referees Dave Elliot on Tuesday, following recent controversial decisions that have gone against the club in the previous two games.

Dave came to see me on Tuesday and it's heartening that the vast majority of my thoughts and beliefs on those decisions from the past two games were shared by Dave. He acknowledged that we had multiple grievances

[Monkeymagic22]

23 minutes ago, POR said:

Apparently Bradford Bulls head coach Mark Dunning says that he had a productive meeting with RFL head of referees Dave Elliot on Tuesday, following recent controversial decisions that have gone against the club in the previous two games.

Dave came to see me on Tuesday and it's heartening that the vast majority of my thoughts and beliefs on those decisions from the past two games were shared by Dave. He acknowledged that we had multiple grievances

Bet he didn’t complain about the offside try that Holmes scored.

[Michael Bates]

28 minutes ago, POR said:

Apparently Bradford Bulls head coach Mark Dunning says that he had a productive meeting with RFL head of referees Dave Elliot on Tuesday, following recent controversial decisions that have gone against the club in the previous two games.

Dave came to see me on Tuesday and it's heartening that the vast majority of my thoughts and beliefs on those decisions from the past two games were shared by Dave. He acknowledged that we had multiple grievances

No complaints about Holmes being offside and Tindall knocking on though one would assume.

[The Phantom Horseman]

I do think we probably got slightly the rub of the green overall in the Bradford game with the ref's decisions, even allowing for their first two tries, but that happens, sometimes it goes for you, sometimes against.

But I don't think I've ever seen a post-game interview with this bloke where he didn't make some passive aggressive comments about the officiating, usually preceded by a comment along the lines of "I'm not going to criticise the referee". The one after the Odsal game in 2021 where he made some disgraceful insinuations about an innocuous tackle from Gareth Gale was a fairly typical example.

[J Phil Loxton]

We can all grumble about refs but all in all they do tend to go for and against you in equal measures over a period of time. The contentious ones are the ones that lead up to a side winning in the latter moments of a game. Usually we only see what goes against our teams. Dunning saw this game as a turning point in Bradford's fortunes following on from their victory over Toulouse and it clearly showed in his disappointment. Bradford scored a dubious try and maybe two and it's not visible whether Ford reached the line for Fev but I'll stand to be corrected on that one. In the play offs last season Batley scored a try from a lost ball but there was hardly a murmur afterwards for the simple reason that Batley fully deserved that victory and like Monday evening I think the best side won also.

[lingaro]

We were totally dominant down the middle and eclipsed their average meters all game.  Composure and cool heads and we should of scored a lot more.  It would be interesting to see how many of those drops by yei were assisted in some way. 

[Gooleboy]

Riley Dean is on the bench for Warrington tonight. 

[gazza77]

42 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

Riley Dean is on the bench for Warrington tonight. 

He's 18th man. 

[POR]

Looking at the 21  I think the two half backs pick them selves Matty and Tom then  in the forwards any two from Craig K Luke C and Dan F miss out

The big question is where do we play our goalkicker Craig H  F/B wing or centre so other missing two  any combination of Caleb A Brandon P Gaz G and Josh H