Match thread: Championship Round 21. Halifax v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 6th August 2023.

[sentoffagain2]

 Fax well worth their 3 point win in fact it flattered us.No joined up play Aekins not the player for that.Thought Astley grew into the game in the second half .Good accurate passes and a couple of drop offs worth another game at scrum half.Longstaff put in plenty of effort in the first half and was one of our better forwards but faded in the second.Wildie did ok two tries off his basic passes.Springer was good as always and Koppy made some good runs.Back three did not play well enough.No one sliding wide to help the centres something i have said they need to do all season.Defence poor Briscoe miles inside for Fax's first try but after that he stayed in a reasonable position and had 4 Fax players to cope with.He was outstanding for work rate taking the ball in time after time.Longstaff and K let one try in two of them should have defended better.Astley had a second rower running at pace to tackle and he didn't fancy it.Not his fault again we should have had a back rower defending the edges.How often have i said that this season.Sheffield game more important than ever now we need to bounce back.Couldn't tell by the effort which team was almost all full time.Hope Davies was rested and not left our because he has a job.Some hard decisions to be made by Mr Campbell reguarding the players and the running of the club if it is right that money is not being paid on time for everyday matters.Joey is not the best in defence and losses too much ball him and Ford have been poor value for their rumoured wages of  £100 k per season.Lets just support the players in coming games i am sure they want to win just like us supporters.

[The Blues Ox]

1 hour ago, J Phil Loxton said:

Halifax were best side by a 'country mile' Why? Because Fev can't cope with a side that slings the ball about. Toulouse never broke sweat in hard yards and if Sheffield had not come to play the dirty card they would have beaten us too. McDermott used to say you only learn by defeats Let's hope so. Well played Fax and if that last minute charge down had come off it would have been a right robbery. 

I think this hits the nail on the head. Fev are used to physically dominating teams and getting on a roll and its pretty easy to play decent rugby when you are 10-20 points up but when they have been in arm wrestle type games they have looked a little vulnarable especially against teams that do have a bit of quality in the backs. For me its the thing that makes this years playoffs so interesting because Fev have been the best team in the league by a mile, the league table does not lie, but this year compared to other years I think there are maybe 3 or 4 teams in Toulouse, Fax, Batley, and maybe Sheffield that will fancy their chances of springing a surprise against Fev and there is a good chance that Fev could face a combo of those teams 2 weeks on the bounce.

Listening to the Grix interview after the game he said a lot of the same regards Fev been a bit of a bing, bosh, bash team where he is more worried against Batley next week because they are able to do the tough stuff but are also able to throw the ball about as well, I don't think that is a real dig at Fev its just more saying that when Plan A doesn't work that they maybe don't have a plan B. Plan A has not failed very much though this season so far.

[sentoffagain2]

   Not far out with that Oxy But wouldn't it be boring with no play offs.After today i can't say you never beat us at The Shay.

[Andrewj]

2 hours ago, Featherstonerovers11 said:

longstaff was one of r better players by far and will Fev be taking Davies to super league if they go up ?? Because I believe they wont and people asking for Astley to play instead of lacans is terrible Astley isn’t ready yet for these tough,competitive games 

TBF who will you be taking up to Superleague if you get through the playoffs? It seems that there are not many players ready to step up. This season is probably Fevs best chance of going up but the team looks very 'un' Superleague ready ?

[RobLambert]

11 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

I think this hits the nail on the head. Fev are used to physically dominating teams and getting on a roll and its pretty easy to play decent rugby when you are 10-20 points up but when they have been in arm wrestle type games they have looked a little vulnarable especially against teams that do have a bit of quality in the backs. For me its the thing that makes this years playoffs so interesting because Fev have been the best team in the league by a mile, the league table does not lie, but this year compared to other years I think there are maybe 3 or 4 teams in Toulouse, Fax, Batley, and maybe Sheffield that will fancy their chances of springing a surprise against Fev and there is a good chance that Fev could face a combo of those teams 2 weeks on the bounce.

Listening to the Grix interview after the game he said a lot of the same regards Fev been a bit of a bing, bosh, bash team where he is more worried against Batley next week because they are able to do the tough stuff but are also able to throw the ball about as well, I don't think that is a real dig at Fev its just more saying that when Plan A doesn't work that they maybe don't have a plan B. Plan A has not failed very much though this season so far.

Hate to say it but this is spot on.  Depressingly the lack of a plan B thing did for us last year as well but we've learnt nothing.  I have no confidence at all that we are capable of beating two of the better teams in the play-offs back to back.  Something needs to change.

Edited August 7, 2023 by RobLambert

[The Blues Ox]

12 minutes ago, Andrewj said:

TBF who will you be taking up to Superleague if you get through the playoffs? It seems that there are not many players ready to step up. This season is probably Fevs best chance of going up but the team looks very 'un' Superleague ready ?

The thing is thats its a strange situation this year as it makes very little difference if Fev are SL ready or not they just have to get there and then work on upping their off field scores to try and score more than whichever team comes down this season.

[Phil Briscoe]

I’ve listened to Grix on the radio quite a few times in recent weeks after Fax have suffered disappointing defeats and he’s openly questioned the attitude and effort levels of players. Both of those were spot on from Fax today and we were lacking. Everyone is seemingly raising their game when they play us but that shouldn’t come as a surprise and we should expect it.

[sentoffagain2]

14 minutes ago, Phil Briscoe said:

I’ve listened to Grix on the radio quite a few times in recent weeks after Fax have suffered disappointing defeats and he’s openly questioned the attitude and effort levels of players. Both of those were spot on from Fax today and we were lacking. Everyone is seemingly raising their game when they play us but that shouldn’t come as a surprise and we should expect it.

   We seem to lack a leader in the forwards talking to players and getting them going.Locky bless him has been a great player for Fev but in the middle he takes the ball up and couldn't burst a wet paper bag.Ryan Carr re invented him and made a player who was not a natural passer into a ball playing back rower.The power and strength up the middle is ok but a quick pass will give the outside more chances.How many good wingers tries have we scored this season? considering the blow out wins we have had.

[bigbaldnmad]

Wow.... just wow.

I can't believe some of the OTT comments on the back of only our second league defeat.

This was always going to be a difficult game, just the first of 4 difficult away games, and anyone who thought it would just be an easy win because Fax are at Wembley next week.... it doesn't work like that.

All Fax away games are hard fought, although recently we tend to edge them. Lets give Fax some credit, not only was JWH the best player on the field, Pickersgill also had a great game, possibly the best game I have seen him play. 

Right, back to the match. 

For those who think Chizzy is the answer... The Chizzy from 3 years ago, maybe, but this version of Chizzy is NOT the answer. Neither is Aekins a half back at this level. Both of which I said yesterday. We played Astley, which I think answered one question, Astley or Lacans.... for me Lacans every day of the week.

So on to the Davies / Longstaff debate. I didn't think Longstaff had a bad game, certainly got about the pitch, stopped the break away near the end, and set up the try for Killer. He is the future... JD is a club stalwart, everyone loves him and he leaves it all on the field. I think we need to integrate Longstaff into the team, but JD still has a roll to play.

So I guess the question is how do we kick on in the last few weeks of the seasons, and into the playoffs... at the moment we are the only team who are definitely in the play offs.

We play a narrow defense, but seem unable to switch to a conventional defensive structure mid game, we need to be able to do that because teams have seen where our weakness is. 

We will lose more games this season, the fact that we had to play 4 of the top six away in the last seven games, it doesn't make us a bad side. We need to  be able to adapt during a game, we have the players to do it, I am just not sure we practice plan B.

We are not the same side that Leigh were last season, but I am sure that every team in the competition would swap places with us in a heart beat.

It will be interesting to see our stats for today, because I though Briscoe was immense today, surely our top metre  maker and for me our MOM.

 

[Rovers fev]

In my opinion we need to drop players who aren’t performing 

Joey 

smith 

Wildie 

for me just shouldn’t be in 

mid any fullback is playing 6 it should be kerellah 

but why not say to Chizzy and lacans you 2 are the halves till Ford is back both of you play for the shirt to partner him make some competition 

Or use lacans as a hooker he’s more than up to it 

we could easily go to Sheffield and get bullied again 

kerrelah 

briscoe, aekins, hankinson, Gale 

lacans, Chizzy 

springer, Wildie, koppy  

hau, longstaff 

cozza 

jones, Davies, yei, moors 

that’s what my choice of team would be and if aekins doesn’t work at centre longstaff could be good there looks quick and agile and then bring Taylor into back row 

 

 

[sentoffagain2]

   Aekins is not a centre better option would be Aekins full back Killer in the centre with Hankinson.Joey is becoming a liability he carries the ball by his side so he can do the offload instead of firm against his chest with a grip on the ball.Killer though in the centre he would lose that coming into the line late move and would be constricted.Maybe Hankinson and Longstaff would be a safer option especially on defence.Don't think Astley has done anything wrong in his two and a half games apart from the mismatched attempt tackle on a forward.I And he did save a certain Fax try by intercepting. like Lacans but he is not a natural ball playing stand off.But he has pace i  would use him as a support player feeding off short passes from the forwards .Sean seems a bit lost he knows our weaknesses but can't rectify them.

[bigbaldnmad]

6 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

Aekins is not a centre better option would be Aekins full back Killer in the centre with Hankinson.Joey is becoming a liability he carries the ball by his side so he can do the offload instead of firm against his chest with a grip on the ball.Killer though in the centre he would lose that coming into the line late move and would be constricted.Maybe Hankinson and Longstaff would be a safer option especially on defence.Don't think Astley has done anything wrong in his two and a half games apart from the mismatched attempt tackle on a forward.I And he did save a certain Fax try by intercepting. like Lacans but he is not a natural ball playing stand off.But he has pace i  would use him as a support player feeding off short passes from the forwards .Sean seems a bit lost he knows our weaknesses but can't rectify them.

Sorry S, I don't agree. 

I think that we either play Killer or Aekins, and that should be at full back.

Don't agree with Joey, he made loads of yards today, and only one lost ball, the second was a strip the officials 'missed'. He gets lots of criticism but Luke charging off to cut out a back field play left him having to defend a 2 on 1 for the first JWH try... not Joey's fault and he would have been slated if he had done that. 

[Fevrover]

9 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

I think this hits the nail on the head. Fev are used to physically dominating teams and getting on a roll and its pretty easy to play decent rugby when you are 10-20 points up but when they have been in arm wrestle type games they have looked a little vulnarable especially against teams that do have a bit of quality in the backs. For me its the thing that makes this years playoffs so interesting because Fev have been the best team in the league by a mile, the league table does not lie, but this year compared to other years I think there are maybe 3 or 4 teams in Toulouse, Fax, Batley, and maybe Sheffield that will fancy their chances of springing a surprise against Fev and there is a good chance that Fev could face a combo of those teams 2 weeks on the bounce.

Listening to the Grix interview after the game he said a lot of the same regards Fev been a bit of a bing, bosh, bash team where he is more worried against Batley next week because they are able to do the tough stuff but are also able to throw the ball about as well, I don't think that is a real dig at Fev its just more saying that when Plan A doesn't work that they maybe don't have a plan B. Plan A has not failed very much though this season so far.

Oxy trouble is it won't be a surprise if we lose to any of the teams you mention in the play offs.

[lingaro]

9 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

I think this hits the nail on the head. Fev are used to physically dominating teams and getting on a roll and its pretty easy to play decent rugby when you are 10-20 points up but when they have been in arm wrestle type games they have looked a little vulnarable especially against teams that do have a bit of quality in the backs. For me its the thing that makes this years playoffs so interesting because Fev have been the best team in the league by a mile, the league table does not lie, but this year compared to other years I think there are maybe 3 or 4 teams in Toulouse, Fax, Batley, and maybe Sheffield that will fancy their chances of springing a surprise against Fev and there is a good chance that Fev could face a combo of those teams 2 weeks on the bounce.

Listening to the Grix interview after the game he said a lot of the same regards Fev been a bit of a bing, bosh, bash team where he is more worried against Batley next week because they are able to do the tough stuff but are also able to throw the ball about as well, I don't think that is a real dig at Fev its just more saying that when Plan A doesn't work that they maybe don't have a plan B. Plan A has not failed very much though this season so far.

Plan B is have some half backs. 

I think when we look at the stats we bid dominate down the middle I think we doublef your meters but could not convert as there is no link between the forwards and backs.  Remember you scored two tries when we had 12 players.   

[sentoffagain2]

8 hours ago, bigbaldnmad said:

Sorry S, I don't agree. 

I think that we either play Killer or Aekins, and that should be at full back.

Don't agree with Joey, he made loads of yards today, and only one lost ball, the second was a strip the officials 'missed'. He gets lots of criticism but Luke charging off to cut out a back field play left him having to defend a 2 on 1 for the first JWH try... not Joey's fault and he would have been slated if he had done that. 

   Agree Killer is our best full back and is much more effective there.Both tend to get into our defensive line early tackling.I would like a full back 20m behind the play following the ball accross to be a last line of defence.Pickersgill did that when he saved a try from our kick to the try line just beating our player to the ball.

[Michael Bates]

I honestly can't see us going up. We struggle against sides that can spread the ball at pace and that's what we'll come up against in the playoffs. We have Plan A, barge through the middle and that's it. Having Aekins and Astley as our halfback pairing was an absolutely bemusing decision. We're into the final throws of the league season and we're still not any better (probably significantly worse) than we were at the start of the season when we played a then fancied Keighley off the park. If we don't go up this season that's it, all over, it'll never happen, what a depressing Monday morning.

[Monkeymagic22]

16 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

I honestly can't see us going up. We struggle against sides that can spread the ball at pace and that's what we'll come up against in the playoffs. We have Plan A, barge through the middle and that's it. Having Aekins and Astley as our halfback pairing was an absolutely bemusing decision. We're into the final throws of the league season and we're still not any better (probably significantly worse) than we were at the start of the season when we played a then fancied Keighley off the park. If we don't go up this season that's it, all over, it'll never happen, what a depressing Monday morning.

I agree, there’s just something missing, and Long doesn’t seem close to knowing what our best team is. Tactics, are similar to last season, just barge it up the middle. Personally , given how we struggle against the better teams, I can’t see us even making the Grand Final.

[J Phil Loxton]

12 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

The thing is thats its a strange situation this year as it makes very little difference if Fev are SL ready or not they just have to get there and then work on upping their off field scores to try and score more than whichever team comes down this season.

It's no gimme that Fev will actually make the final and after yesterday then it should be Halifax that are talking just as loudly about super League. I watched Fax on you tube against Sheffield last week and the two performances bear no resemblance. Sport is weird Sheffield have been beaten twice I believe against Whitehaven but still remain strong contenders and a threat in the forth coming play offs. The eagles will be a totally different side when they front up to Fev in a fortnight. Players up their game against the so called favourites. Fev are no Leigh they are just a tiny bit better than some of the top teams and can be found out by the better coaches on any given day. I always advocate that a team that finishes top should always be rewarded with a seasons effort by being promoted. Now if that was the case would Fev be eight points clear today? Some teams are happy to plod into the play offs knowing that two good games will win the prize. Makes for an interesting finish. The one thing I do like is when the best side wins and that can be said of yesterday.

Edited August 7, 2023 by J Phil Loxton

[POR]

 YES we had a bad day at the office and got beat BUT to put it into perspective Man City won a treble and lost 5 games in the prem  twice to a team who finished 9th some 30 points behind so losing to Fax isn't the end of the world personally I think that's what we needed a kick up the backside because I feel  we have just been plodding along without utilising our out side backs remember GG has scored 21 tries so we do know how to do it unfortunately that seems to be  off the menu  at the minute so before we write off our season lets wait until we get a proper organiser back in our 13 and see what that brings

[The Blues Ox]

2 hours ago, lingaro said:

Plan B is have some half backs. 

I think when we look at the stats we bid dominate down the middle I think we doublef your meters but could not convert as there is no link between the forwards and backs.  Remember you scored two tries when we had 12 players.   

Exactly, if a team can stick in the game with Fev then they will have a chance its just there are not many teams in the league that are firstly able to stick in the game and secondly have the class in the backs to then put pressure on Fev. Lets face it if Joey had have been red carded like he should have been (Not debating how weak it all was just that letter of the law should have been a red) then I think we run away with the game as no matter how average we have been this season we do have pace to burn in the backs and a team as physically big as Fev don't stand much of a chance 13 v 12 on a wide pitch.

 

Edit: Thats what I also don't get as you do have some quality halfs and Sean Long mentioned pre match how settled in that regard Fax are which could not be further from the truth so its not like either team is settled in that spot.

Edited August 7, 2023 by The Blues Ox

[Eternal Rover]

Simply got to get a settled half back pairing sorted for the run in and get our best middles fit and firing.

Right now we don't look as polished as we did early season, injuries haven't helped but, as we approach the business end of the season, we need to settle on the preferred combinations and step up.

Toulouse will be ready for a big tilt at us, yes they've dropped points but they are a fit team who keep coming, we've got to be ready for them.

[The Phantom Horseman]

I don't think we learned much that we didn't already know. We mostly dominated the collisions in the middle of the park (barring a very good spell from Lannon), but looked vulnerable whenever Halifax threw some shape at us out wide. It's not always someone jamming in, often it's just not managing to number up.

All season long we have been the most consistent team, but also a team that is vulnerable if our opponents are capable of standing up to our direct running game.

In a standard P and R format we'd be all bar promoted already and on merit, but that's not the system we face. 

Halifax played really well, and deserved to win. They'll be a clear danger if we meet them in the play-offs, but so will any of the teams that qualify if we catch them on a good day.

None of the current Championship teams are close to being SL ready, we know that, but one of them will go up, and it could still be us even though we aren't really where we'd like to be in terms of form, rather than league position. Given our strengths and weaknesses, a wet night or two in October could see us in a different light.

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by The Phantom Horseman

[Ovenden Grunt]

19 hours ago, bigbaldnmad said:

Wow.... just wow.

I can't believe some of the OTT comments on the back of only our second league defeat.

This was always going to be a difficult game, just the first of 4 difficult away games, and anyone who thought it would just be an easy win because Fax are at Wembley next week.... it doesn't work like that.

All Fax away games are hard fought, although recently we tend to edge them. Lets give Fax some credit, not only was JWH the best player on the field, Pickersgill also had a great game, possibly the best game I have seen him play. 

Right, back to the match. 

For those who think Chizzy is the answer... The Chizzy from 3 years ago, maybe, but this version of Chizzy is NOT the answer. Neither is Aekins a half back at this level. Both of which I said yesterday. We played Astley, which I think answered one question, Astley or Lacans.... for me Lacans every day of the week.

So on to the Davies / Longstaff debate. I didn't think Longstaff had a bad game, certainly got about the pitch, stopped the break away near the end, and set up the try for Killer. He is the future... JD is a club stalwart, everyone loves him and he leaves it all on the field. I think we need to integrate Longstaff into the team, but JD still has a roll to play.

So I guess the question is how do we kick on in the last few weeks of the seasons, and into the playoffs... at the moment we are the only team who are definitely in the play offs.

We play a narrow defense, but seem unable to switch to a conventional defensive structure mid game, we need to be able to do that because teams have seen where our weakness is. 

We will lose more games this season, the fact that we had to play 4 of the top six away in the last seven games, it doesn't make us a bad side. We need to  be able to adapt during a game, we have the players to do it, I am just not sure we practice plan B.

We are not the same side that Leigh were last season, but I am sure that every team in the competition would swap places with us in a heart beat.

It will be interesting to see our stats for today, because I though Briscoe was immense today, surely our top metre  maker and for me our MOM.

 

Aye️

[Ovenden Grunt]

10 hours ago, lingaro said:

Plan B is have some half backs. 

I think when we look at the stats we bid dominate down the middle I think we doublef your meters but could not convert as there is no link between the forwards and backs.  Remember you scored two tries when we had 12 players.   

That's a shame️

[RobLambert]

On 02/08/2023 at 11:31, POR said:

Totally disagree R your suggesting it's better for the players to get into the top 6 than win at wembley  don't forget this could be the only time some of

get to play at wembley 

After us they have 5 games against teams below them they could target for that elusive top 6 but bottom line is they are were they are because of the 9 defeats in 20

I'm so glad Fax were prioritising the cup - otherwise it could have got really embarrassing.....