Batley v London

[The scrim reaper]

I would guess if he's been told no! It would be down to kev! Not every club is going to say no to batley! and what about Hooley he still isn't making the Leeds squad why isn't he back, I know we do have to make every penny count but surely some funds could be made available! 

[RogerT]

Hi Colin I think Rob was saying that he converted 2 of the tries and a penalty.

[phildog]

Correct Bully, we seem to have a script of how kicks should be and can't deal with anything off script. We were caught 3 times today; a drop out from their posts, the 25 drop out from the missed penalty and a try restart. Nor do we ever attempt anything similar and other than one steepling spinner from Meadows all our kicking is a long pass giving them 20 yards to run the ball back without opposition. Young Leyland put on a great display of kicking and was MoM by a mile.

[The scrim reaper]

11 minutes ago, phildog said:

Correct Bully, we seem to have a script of how kicks should be and can't deal with anything off script. We were caught 3 times today; a drop out from their posts, the 25 drop out from the missed penalty and a try restart. Nor do we ever attempt anything similar and other than one steepling spinner from Meadows all our kicking is a long pass giving them 20 yards to run the ball back without opposition. Young Leyland put on a great display of kicking and was MoM by a mile.

Also has, as been said before a 1000 xs, why when we are struggling to make yards out of our own half and needing field position,  where are our 40/20 attempts, there was a fairly strong breeze blowing down hill today and yet again nothing,  London did one today gaining good field position which lead to a penalty! 

[Keep The Faith]

 we missed woods and his all round game 

[RogerT]

That's true KTF.

[nineoil]

14 hours ago, RogerT said:

At the end of the day it was that intercepted try and goal that was the difference

 

The difference was not the intercepted Try !

You can have all the moaning and groaning about incidents in the game about who did what and how bad the officials   were etc etc but the final  analysis is rather simple really . The reality is that the game was won and lost by missed goal kicks.

London took their kicks and won whilst we missed two and lost . We could have won the game by 2 points but didn't!!

End of !

[RogerT]

I'm not having a moan n grown that's my perception of the result.

No problems with ref's if we didn't have them then no matches.

It was interesting listening to the ref after the Swinton match.

[Batley Bob]

14 hours ago, colinb said:

 

Sorry Rob , we did convert a try, think it was Mortons in the corner. 

Yes we missed 1 conversion whereas London didn't,  we missed 1 penalty out of 2 , where london converted 1 out of 1,   those 4 points would have won us the game

[phildog]

Ref had no bearing at all on the game, he controlled it very well I thought, there wasn't much for him to do as I thought both sides were well disciplined and controlled. I've mooted this point before and I think it's worth re-visiting; Linners has clearly asked the board (Kev) to bring in some players (we have some of our own out elsewhere, one of whom couldn't have played anyway due to a ban, but that's neither here nor there) and been told no WE ASSUME....so are there legs in this £10 a ticket? If it's working why are funds unavailable to juice up a tiring, injury-hit squad? If it's not working it's proved to be a very well intentioned mistake. If certain club sponsors are able to commit funds to cover losses from the experiment why couldn't they instead have been asked to set up their own pot for such situations and entry price have stayed the same, considering our gate prices against what we're asked to pay on our travels at certain places? I understand that Kev was trying very hard to make a statement about the club and raise its profile even further after the GF and is to be applauded for it but to not have funds to bring in a couple of players his coach has identified, if only short-term to get over a crisis, is a worry. In team terms yesterday we were missing Campbell, Woods, Gledhill, Hirst, Walshaw, Brown, Kibula, Richardson and Burton plus the empty shirts which Linners said in January he had asked the club to find him players to fill. I know somebody will gave an opinion as to why certain players mentioned above aren't or shouldn't be playing but the fact is that they're not here bolstering OUR squad whilst we can't afford a couple of loans. We hit the dizzy heights of 2nd, Linners has often warned throughout the winning run that we would eventually drop off, the same 18/19 players have put everything on the line in a great run. We have to start a new run next week, it's going to be a hard rest of July and if bodies are starting to give way more often than even they would like then if Linners asks he has to be backed.

[BatleyBird]

I don't think the £10 entry fee is the issue (if there is an issue).  Felt like half of Batley was in the beer garden yesterday, and lots and lots of them with a pint in their hands. I'm sure the weather and the entertainment helped, but getting more people through the door to spend money on beer, food and merch is a very good business strategy. There were also a few fans there from other clubs and some local Asian families, which was great to see. Make it a great day at a reasonable price, and people will come, and hopefully continue to do so. 

Maybe a bit TMI from Linners regarding the situation with being refused players, but agree that it's baffling if that's the case. 

[DOGFATHER]

I thought we missed a couple of the big lads in the middle, to take the energy out of the opposition, no Gledhill, Brown, Walshaw, Hirst or Kibula. I also think we missed Woods for his kicking game and organisational skills. No disrespect to any of the lads that played, there was no lack of effort or endeavour, we just couldn't soften the opposition pack up with the starting props to help Lillicrop and Ward to exploit a tiring defence.

Ultimately, no arguments from me about the result, better side on the day won. We looked tired and a bit beaten up, (unsurprisingly given the recent run of games and build up of injuries).

We made more mistakes than them, and it cost us.

[distantdog]

11 minutes ago, DOGFATHER said:

I thought we missed a couple of the big lads in the middle, to take the energy out of the opposition, no Gledhill, Brown, Walshaw, Hirst or Kibula. I also think we missed Woods for his kicking game and organisational skills.

I think this is the case. We were not as organised as usual and lacked the calm head that Woods brings. We also lacked the size we usually have and looked flat in that first half.

2 hours ago, nineoil said:

The difference was not the intercepted Try !

 The reality is that the game was won and lost by missed goal kicks.

End of !

It's not end of though is it? The interception try was a mistake made on their line by us which ended with them scoring, so could be argued that this contributed to our defeat as much as the missed kicks did.

[RogerT]

Exactly  Distantdog.

[BullyXL]

Don't think Woods would have made the difference, as I said earlier we did not dominate, therefore no halfback can have a great day regardless! However, I do feel that we play our best when we have 3 halves on the pitch (each one with their own complimentary style of play), even though one generally is used as a middle pivot. That is the game plan we have used all season and has proven to be successful for the majority. It just gives us extra width and more options with 3 genuine ball players out there at the same time. Injuries have forced our hand, let's just hope we get some size back this week, along with Woods too.

[Keep The Faith]

2 hours ago, BullyXL said:

Don't think Woods would have made the difference, as I said earlier we did not dominate, therefore no halfback can have a great day regardless! However, I do feel that we play our best when we have 3 halves on the pitch (each one with their own complimentary style of play), even though one generally is used as a middle pivot. That is the game plan we have used all season and has proven to be successful for the majority. It just gives us extra width and more options with 3 genuine ball players out there at the same time. Injuries have forced our hand, let's just hope we get some size back this week, along with Woods too.

He would of done… woods kicking game on the field is brilliant he’d of put them on the back foot in the corners we didn’t try it once yesterday at all 

anyway we move on to barrow 

 

[phildog]

Barrow, Halifax, Featherstone THEN the hard, important one....York. Nothing left that's easy, even Whitehaven and Newcastle will have something to prove. Just hope the club does right by Linners. It's out there now....

[RogerT]

Maybe just maybe that's what tipped Linners over the top to look for another position.

[phildog]

Possibly Rog, depends on whether he was approached or did the approaching. As it was told at the time he was approached and accepted only in acceptance of the dual role. I hope more is made available to Mokko next closed season as we could be looking for a good number of replacements.

[BirstallDog]

6 hours ago, phildog said:

Barrow, Halifax, Featherstone THEN the hard, important one....York. Nothing left that's easy, even Whitehaven and Newcastle will have something to prove. Just hope the club does right by Linners. It's out there now....

You forgot about the game in France the week before York.

 

[frank]

Disappointing result! Just when I thought we were going to consolidate   second place. If memory serve  me right we lost to London at home last year.

[distantdog]

2 hours ago, frank said:

Disappointing result! Just when I thought we were going to consolidate   second place. If memory serve  me right we lost to London at home last year.

Season before last. We beat them at home last season and lost away.

[phildog]

Last season we lost 30-20 then beat them 30-20 first game this season!

[phildog]

Reading the interview with Linners in The Reporter series he's been more careful with his words than he was on radio but it still barely disguises his disappointment and now, for the first time, he's expressed feelings which probably don't stay within party lines. Let's hope that it resonates at board level. If it's size he wants then bring Kibula back. It's rumoured that he's not a great trainer but he's done it on field and would change our balance. For the first time in a long time we had a pack out on Sunday that was totally dominated and we need to change that with younger blood. We should gave gone for our old boy Will Maher a few weeks back as well. Surely there's a big body in the background at Cas?

[Batley Bob]