Sat 3rd Jun-Sun 4th Jun: The Betfred Championship (Non-TV) Match Thread

[georgeb1]

could be a bit slippy for woodburn ballsup taking the high kicks.

[Ovenden Grunt]

23 minutes ago, georgeb1 said:

could be a bit slippy for woodburn ballsup taking the high kicks.

JWH had a nightmare against Batley but he has been absolutely outstanding this season.

[The Blues Ox]

2 hours ago, Ovenden Grunt said:

JWH had a nightmare against Batley but he has been absolutely outstanding this season.

Yeah probably in the top 4 or 5 players in the league this season. Wish all our players had shown his form this year and we wouldn't be having the bang average season we are having. 

[georgeb1]

1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said:

Yeah probably in the top 4 or 5 players in the league this season. Wish all our players had shown his form this year and we wouldn't be having the bang average season we are having. 

Yes , jesting aside we had a discussion at the bash about how many decent fullbacks there were in the championship , our top picks , 1 Caleb aekins 2 jack walker , 3 J W H , 4 our own Matty marsh , yes and before you start moaning at Fev killer was omitted due to not playing this season.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

3 minutes ago, georgeb1 said:

Yes , jesting aside we had a discussion at the bash about how many decent fullbacks there were in the championship , our top picks , 1 Caleb aekins 2 jack walker , 3 J W H , 4 our own Matty marsh , yes and before you start moaning at Fev killer was omitted due to not playing this season.

TBF he's not played many less than Walker....

[Crown Flatter]

Toulouse Olympique 18-16 Halifax Panthers 
Batley Bulldogs 24-12 York Knights
Featherstone Rovers 62-18 arrow Raiders

Keighley Cougars 18-25 Swinton Lions 
Sheffield Eagles 38-18 Whitehaven 
Widnes Vikings 16-18 London Broncos 

[northamptoncougar]

22 hours ago, georgeb1 said:

Yes , jesting aside we had a discussion at the bash about how many decent fullbacks there were in the championship , our top picks , 1 Caleb aekins 2 jack walker , 3 J W H , 4 our own Matty marsh , yes and before you start moaning at Fev killer was omitted due to not playing this season.

Lewis Young is absolute quality 

[bigbaldnmad]

Fax leading 18-10 at HT, TO were 10-0 up after 10 minutes....

All to play for.

[bigbaldnmad]

TO 28 - 22 Fax

[Ragingbull]

Cas reserves lose again. Got to be huge questions asked of Grix now. Bringing in duel reg players has obviously upset the apple cart. 

[Wolfey Rovers]

Toulouse aren't breaking any pots either, fax should of targeted that game for a win. They're slipping out of the playoffs 

 

[Phil]

49 minutes ago, Ragingbull said:

Cas reserves lose again. Got to be huge questions asked of Grix now. Bringing in duel reg players has obviously upset the apple cart. 

[The Blues Ox]

No big surprise to anyone who has watched us this season. Our fans seem pretty happy that we were able to get so close to the worst Toulouse team in years though.

[Ovenden Grunt]

1 hour ago, Wolfey Rovers said:

Toulouse aren't breaking any pots either, fax should of targeted that game for a win. They're slipping out of the playoffs 

 

Fax need to win just one game. Just one️

[Ovenden Grunt]

2 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

No big surprise to anyone who has watched us this season. Our fans seem pretty happy that we were able to get so close to the worst Toulouse team in years though.

Yep. I've just said the same on't Facebook. Happy Clappers as Town fans call 'em️

[georgeb1]

3 hours ago, northamptoncougar said:

Lewis Young is absolute quality 

always has been 

[kiggy]

1 hour ago, Ragingbull said:

Cas reserves lose again. Got to be huge questions asked of Grix now. Bringing in duel reg players has obviously upset the apple cart. 

I agree, I don't like bringing players in for a match it doesn't work.

I thought Halifax were very bright today, quick, up for it, using the width of the pitch well. Couple of lucky plays, ball off the post etc.  but all in all, the plucky amateur side only just losing out to the fully professional french outfit. 

[The Blues Ox]

3 hours ago, Ovenden Grunt said:

Yep. I've just said the same on't Facebook. Happy Clappers as Town fans call 'em️

I find it really weird how easily pleased our fans are, like its not full on melt down mode but after tomorrow we will likely be in 7th with a team that has got talent that some of the teams around us would kill for yet people are happy we got near to a Toulouse team that has been struggling in recent weeks. People bang on about our budget but this season we will be around the 4th biggest spenders once again behind Fev, Tolouse and Bradford but irelevant of that Grix seems to be unable to get the best out of a team that looked pretty good last season and at times in the cup this season looks more than capable. Grix will be under a bit of pressure now with 1 or 2 more losses over the next few games and there would be a que of people lining up for one of the most attractive jobs in the division. 

[bigbaldnmad]

5 hours ago, Ragingbull said:

Cas reserves lose again. Got to be huge questions asked of Grix now. Bringing in duel reg players has obviously upset the apple cart. 

Bit rich coming from a follower of the Bradford Rhinos Giants Tigers Kingston Rovers....

Apologies if I have missed any club out.

[Wolfey Rovers]

6 hours ago, Ovenden Grunt said:

Fax need to win just one game. Just one️

You got to get there first, which on paper looks a bigger task than thought

[kiggy]

7 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

 People bang on about our budget but this season we will be around the 4th biggest spenders once again behind Fev, Tolouse and Bradford

Do you have a link where I can see what each club spends on players? Even I don't know the individual spend on player budget at TO. I know the overall budget is around 3.4m, but that includes everything from the top team down through the rugby schools, so Elite, U19, U17 etc.

Halifax are a top 6 side so I wouldn't worry too much just yet, half a season to go still.

It was nice for Bernard to see a win in his final game in charge of the club.

[The Blues Ox]

39 minutes ago, kiggy said:

Do you have a link where I can see what each club spends on players? Even I don't know the individual spend on player budget at TO. I know the overall budget is around 3.4m, but that includes everything from the top team down through the rugby schools, so Elite, U19, U17 etc.

Halifax are a top 6 side so I wouldn't worry too much just yet, half a season to go still.

It was nice for Bernard to see a win in his final game in charge of the club.

Its all hearsay really but I think with a bit of common sense we can all get somwhere near. Fev I don't think anyone is going to argue with that and Toulouse been full time probably puts them above all part time teams. Bradford traditionally overspend so in my opinion that would be your top 3. Next group likely to contain Widnes, Fax, Sheffield and possibly London with the cost of living down south. Id put Batley, Keighley, York and Barrow as the next tier leaving the rest as the lower spenders. Section 2 and 3 I would not think there would be much in it, like Batley could now be in the 2nd section having a lot of players been there a number of years can soon inflate the wage bill. I do have a little knowledge of the inner workings of player wages so its not total guess work but for the most part its not too hard to figure out and I imagine that will be somewhere near. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

19 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Its all hearsay really but I think with a bit of common sense we can all get somwhere near. Fev I don't think anyone is going to argue with that and Toulouse been full time probably puts them above all part time teams. Bradford traditionally overspend so in my opinion that would be your top 3. Next group likely to contain Widnes, Fax, Sheffield and possibly London with the cost of living down south. Id put Batley, Keighley, York and Barrow as the next tier leaving the rest as the lower spenders. Section 2 and 3 I would not think there would be much in it, like Batley could now be in the 2nd section having a lot of players been there a number of years can soon inflate the wage bill. I do have a little knowledge of the inner workings of player wages so its not total guess work but for the most part its not too hard to figure out and I imagine that will be somewhere near. 

Indeed so much of the figures bandied about are hearsay. On the Keighley forum there does seem to be a belief that they have spent the second most in the division which would be remarkable if true but if they spent big chunks on their high-profile players (such as Gale, Crookes, Chisholm, Walker, Ioane, Doyle, Adebeyi) then I guess it's possible.

Toulouse seem an expensive club to run, obviously the flight payments account for part of that but they were very uncompetitive in the market for free agency players in the off-season and as I've said before on here I do wonder if their sponsorship levels have fallen.

Martin Vickers stated earlier this season that Fev have spent less this year than last year but presumably would stil be comfortably top spenders. Then I'd guess most of the remaining clubs around the top 6 would be in the same ballpark but with Batley probably spending less than most of the others. But again that's just guesswork!

[kiggy]

2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Indeed so much of the figures bandied about are hearsay. On the Keighley forum there does seem to be a belief that they have spent the second most in the division which would be remarkable if true but if they spent big chunks on their high-profile players (such as Gale, Crookes, Chisholm, Walker, Ioane, Doyle, Adebeyi) then I guess it's possible.

Toulouse seem an expensive club to run, obviously the flight payments account for part of that but they were very uncompetitive in the market for free agency players in the off-season and as I've said before on here I do wonder if their sponsorship levels have fallen.

Martin Vickers stated earlier this season that Fev have spent less this year than last year but presumably would stil be comfortably top spenders. Then I'd guess most of the remaining clubs around the top 6 would be in the same ballpark but with Batley probably spending less than most of the others. But again that's just guesswork!

The 1st team do get the lions share but Toulouse have spread themselves many teams which accounts for more of the cost. Player wages are not that high though, they rely on sponsors to help out with other costs, cars/accommodation etc. I know when they were in SL the backroom staff don't get paid anywhere near the same as their peers at other clubs. As for the off season, they had sights on quite a few players but very few wanted to play in France...even the French players preferred to go to the UK.

[kiggy]

4 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Indeed so much of the figures bandied about are hearsay. On the Keighley forum there does seem to be a belief that they have spent the second most in the division which would be remarkable if true but if they spent big chunks on their high-profile players (such as Gale, Crookes, Chisholm, Walker, Ioane, Doyle, Adebeyi) then I guess it's possible.

Toulouse seem an expensive club to run, obviously the flight payments account for part of that but they were very uncompetitive in the market for free agency players in the off-season and as I've said before on here I do wonder if their sponsorship levels have fallen.

Martin Vickers stated earlier this season that Fev have spent less this year than last year but presumably would stil be comfortably top spenders. Then I'd guess most of the remaining clubs around the top 6 would be in the same ballpark but with Batley probably spending less than most of the others. But again that's just guesswork!

One thing to also bear in mind is that it costs a fortune to employ someone in France. For instance, if I earned 50K gross, I would pay around 25K in Tax/NI as an employee, the employer would pay an equal amount in employee taux de cotisations.  And don't get me started if you are self-employed !! It could be why their costs seem to so high in comparison to a UK based club