Match thread: Championship Round 20. Featherstone Rovers v Batley. Saturday 29th July 2023.

[marklaspalmas]

Back to the Championship and a Saturday afternoon kickoff against one of the two sides who've just got to Wembley.

Sitting comfortably in 3rd place with 13 wins from 19 matches, Batley are going incredibly well again in 2023.

A real test of of credentials come the playoffs.

With eight matches (plus hopefully two playoff games to go), Rovers preferred squad is really taking shape, apart from one area.

Unfortunately we've lost Josh Hardcastle for the rest of the year, and lets hope he's back soon. All the best to Josh.

Otherwise, it's

1 FB: Kheirallah.

2 Wings: Gale & Briscoe.

2 Centres: Two from Hankinson, Leilua and Hall.

2 Hookers: Wildie & Jones.

8 Forwards: 4 Props from Locky, Koppy, Springer, Smith & Yei. 4 Back-row Davies, Taylor, Cozza, Hau. Plus hopefully Day, Moors and Bussey into contention at some point.

2 Half-backs: here's where it gets tricky. We've got Chisholm, Astley, Lacans and Aekins. Plus hopefully Ford. Which two will it be? We've used 10 different combinations in 20 games so far, so who knows?

FWIW I think we will be favourites after Batley's efforts last week, but we of all clubs should realise just what a quality outfit they are.

 

[Monkeymagic22]

This is a real test for us, especially given how we have struggled to beat the better teams in the division. Batley have been playing really well recently, so any kind of win would be fantastic. The half backs are a question, is Ford fit?, and is Astley still with us?. Personally I’d play Lacans at hooker and drop Wildie. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

AFAIK we are still none the wise about the outcome of Arama Hau's "referred for further investigation" incident from the Swinton game.

That was included in the match review panel minutes from 13 July. It's interesting that following the match review panel miuntes from the 20th July, when London's Rob Butler was referred for further investigation for alleged biting, it was announced this morning that Butler has been referred to the tribunal (which probably means lengthy ban incoming).

You might think that that means Hau's incident has been dealt with and no further action to be taken - except Dane Chisholm was charged with a very similar offence in the away game at Oldham in August 2021...and his eight-match ban (subsequently overturned on appeal) wasn't announced until December 15th!

It's very frustrating that there are never any updates about these incidents.

Edited July 24, 2023 by The Phantom Horseman

[sentoffagain2]

1 hour ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

This is a real test for us, especially given how we have struggled to beat the better teams in the division. Batley have been playing really well recently, so any kind of win would be fantastic. The half backs are a question, is Ford fit?, and is Astley still with us?. Personally I’d play Lacans at hooker and drop Wildie. 

  I have been thinking about Lacans as  hooker for a couple of weeks.Wildie does work hard but he lacks that sharpness needed you can see the difference when Jones comes on so i would go along with you on that.Thought we only had Astley for a month that's why i couldn't understand him being rested in our last game.

[elppaxr2i]

Hope York softened them up on Sunday - A tough game, think we will win it late on

[Fevrover]

7 minutes ago, elppaxr2i said:

Hope York softened them up on Sunday - A tough game, think we will win it late on

No sadly they didn't.

[Piggy's mate]

The best away game in the calendar, sadly I think our attention will be elsewhere, but that shouldn't matter come the play-offs regardless where we finish in the top six

Fev 26 Bulldogs 8

[RobLambert]

Personally I think Wildie's work goes unnoticed and I think we might miss his distribution and tackling

It would be just about right if they left a decision regarding Hau for another week or two so an 8 match ban would cover the play-offs.

As far as the game goes if we lose to Batley this weekend we may as well call it a day.....

[David Shepherd]

Let's hope they're knackered after last weekend. The only team other than Toulouse that really worry me.

Hopefully we'll sneak a late win.  Is Ainsough still playing?

[Monkeymagic22]

The squad/team should be interesting. Will Ford be back?, and is Astley still with us?. I am hoping that Joey is back, just gives us the strike power from centre. What do people think?.

[sentoffagain2]

18 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

The squad/team should be interesting. Will Ford be back?, and is Astley still with us?. I am hoping that Joey is back, just gives us the strike power from centre. What do people think?.

  Joey and Hankinson are our best centre partnership but when Ford plays they get the right ball with a bit of space.Think we will wrap Ford in cotton wool until the play offs.Although we have seen plenty of half backs over the years who never get tackled and come off with their shirt clean as when they started.I have stopped trying to guess the team.

[The Phantom Horseman]

59 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

The squad/team should be interesting. Will Ford be back?, and is Astley still with us?. I am hoping that Joey is back, just gives us the strike power from centre. What do people think?.

James Ford on UpNext (RoversTV) suggesting that the Keighley game at the end of August has an outside chance of being Johnno's comeback game if things go well. Sounds like a sensible approach, definitely no need to rush him back.

Edited July 26, 2023 by The Phantom Horseman

[Michael Bates]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

James Ford on UpNext (RoversTV) suggesting that the Keighley game at the end of August has an outside chance of being Johnno's comeback game if things go well. Sounds like a sensible approach, definitely no need to rush him back.

Don't want to rush him back but think he needs time to develop a partnership with whoever. In my opinion, Ford and Chisholm is our best half back partnership so they need some game time together.

[The Phantom Horseman]

3 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

Don't want to rush him back but think he needs time to develop a partnership with whoever. In my opinion, Ford and Chisholm is our best half back partnership so they need some game time together.

Yes I agree, though Chisholm will need to play well in the next three or four weeks to prove that he's a better option than Aekins or Lacans. Whilst we can all agree that half back isn't Aekins' best position, he hasn't played badly there, and you sense that Long understandably feels a bit of loyalty towards Aekins who has barely had a poor game all year.

[Monkeymagic22]

My team for Batley would be:

1 MK

2 Briscoe

3 Joey

4 Hanks

5 Gale

6 Aekins

7 Chiss

8 Locky/koppy

9 Lacans

10 Springer

11 Longstaff

12 Cozza

13 Taylor

14 Jones

15 Davies

16 Hau

17 Yei

[sentoffagain2]

   Can't see why you pick Aekins at stand off when he as not got the required skills for that position.Longstaff might get on the bench but i can't see him starting .Otherwise nowt wrong with your selections.This season we are much better equipped to deal with Batleys strong pack and apart from Hooley linking up the backs won't cause too may problems.Fev to win by 16+ is how i see it.

[Monkeymagic22]

36 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   Can't see why you pick Aekins at stand off when he as not got the required skills for that position.Longstaff might get on the bench but i can't see him starting .Otherwise nowt wrong with your selections.This season we are much better equipped to deal with Batleys strong pack and apart from Hooley linking up the backs won't cause too may problems.Fev to win by 16+ is how i see it.

Ideally you’d want Ford to partner Chissy. It’s either going with Aekins, who has experience but not ideal, or Lacans, promising but inexperienced. Plus Aekins is such a good player, would you want to leave him out of the team?.

[sentoffagain2]

6 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Ideally you’d want Ford to partner Chissy. It’s either going with Aekins, who has experience but not ideal, or Lacans, promising but inexperienced. Plus Aekins is such a good player, would you want to leave him out of the team?.

  Aekins does look too good to leave out on the form he has shown when playing.Suppose Astley has gone back but i would play Chizzy at stand off because of his distribution .Like Ford he can give the centres a good quick pass or a cut out to the winger.Although he may need a couple more games to be back to something like his best.

[The Phantom Horseman]

Think I'm right in saying that if we win on Saturday we will have clinched our place in the play-offs with seven games remaining after that one.

Four more wins will guarantee finishing top (three would probably suffice barring some heavy defeats given our points difference).

[Rovers fev]

Aekins 6 Chizzy 7 Jones start at 9 with lacans on bench to cover halves if it’s not going well or to come on for Jones 

 

start with koppy and springer at prop 

longstaff and hau in the back row with Taylor at 13

then have yei Davies and cozza on the bench, 

the backs pick themselves but wound leave hall out for Joey 

[POR]

Astley and longstaff in the 21 on rfl match centre

[Monkeymagic22]

5 minutes ago, POR said:

Astley and longstaff in the 21 on rfl match centre

Good news if Astley is available again. 

[Daft old hooker]

21 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Good news if Astley is available again. 

I was under the impression Astley was here for a month which could be extended potentially as long as the rest of the season.

[POR]

oops forgot to mention killer not in squad

[sentoffagain2]

   Makes sense to play Astley scrum half and Chizzy stand off.We have tried most other combinations .I just see this as a better fit than Aekins at stand off.That settles it then Aekins full back.I would try Lacans at 9  instead of Wildie but against Batley i don't think Sean will take the risk.