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

[lingaro]

19 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

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.

And if killer had stayed on you dony score 2 tries.  What if. 

[Monkeymagic22]

1 hour ago, lingaro said:

And if killer had stayed on you dony score 2 tries.  What if. 

Exactly, because without Killer going off, I think we win that match. Joey should have walked, but the behaviour of that Fax player standing over him and mouthing off, doesn’t sit well with me. Having watched the match again, I’d say that we beat Fax if we play them again.

[POR]

10 hours ago, RobLambert said:

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

I  never said that R if you read all my posts I said 

I totally agree S and of  course they will all be playing proper rugby on sunday and will be trying to win 

 

[RobLambert]

On 02/08/2023 at 12:04, POR said:

I totally agree S and of  course they will all be playing proper rugby on sunday and will be trying to win but my point is to suggest they should prioratise a 6 place finish over a wembley win is silly

That was your full comment.  

[POR]

5 minutes ago, RobLambert said:

That was your full comment.  

But my point was they shouldn't be priortising any game 

[RobLambert]

1 minute ago, POR said:

But my point was they shouldn't be priortising any game 

Correct - I never said that though.  My original comment referred to previous posts that suggested Fax may have an eye on the cup and we could benefit.  (Reasonable point - look at HKR's / Batley's results) I said Fax would be mad to focus on the cup (given their position in the league - they would have gone to 8th if losing to us)  To which you said I was 'silly' to say that. (players not getting many chances to play at Wembley etc).  Also you pointed out that Fax had some easier games in the league to follow - suggesting they could target them instead.  We'll agree to disagree.......   

[elppaxr2i]

Not the first time POR backtracks on his original comments when challenged about them…….

Edited August 8, 2023 by elppaxr2i

[jamescolin]

Just watched the game again on television. We were a bit unlucky.  

[RobLambert]

I think thats fair enough Colin.  After seeing it in real time and then back again we didn't seem to get much luck.  It was a good game for the neutral and was close all the way.  Its just that for those of us who haven't been impressed this season it was yet another game where we looked beatable and it could have gone either way going well into the game.  The fact that this time we lost, in some ways for me, was irrelevant.  

[The Blues Ox]

12 hours ago, jamescolin said:

Just watched the game again on television. We were a bit unlucky.  

That sin binning was an awful decision although live I thought one of the no tries should have been a try but on watching I do think the ref called it correctly as it looked a forward pass before hitting the Fev players knees. Flip side you did get a bit of luck with Joey staying on the field. 

The main problem Fev seem to have is they offer very little threat from their own half but the team has been put together to trample teams which it has done in about 90% of games. Sadly for Fev fans a change of coach can not change the players or the way they play the game. It really does not matter who the coach is as you can only work with what you have and Fev do not have the players to sling the ball about, their game is about power and it works most of the time. Getting rid of Long seems a big panic reaction by someone who is possibly been unrealistic about the team he has put together.

[Monkeymagic22]

1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said:

That sin binning was an awful decision although live I thought one of the no tries should have been a try but on watching I do think the ref called it correctly as it looked a forward pass before hitting the Fev players knees. Flip side you did get a bit of luck with Joey staying on the field. 

The main problem Fev seem to have is they offer very little threat from their own half but the team has been put together to trample teams which it has done in about 90% of games. Sadly for Fev fans a change of coach can not change the players or the way they play the game. It really does not matter who the coach is as you can only work with what you have and Fev do not have the players to sling the ball about, their game is about power and it works most of the time. Getting rid of Long seems a big panic reaction by someone who is possibly been unrealistic about the team he has put together.

Is it not possible for Fev to attempt more offloads, and come up with some attacking set plays?. Surely we have the quality of players able to vary the game play a bit?. Just depends if the coach is willing to throw the dice and be a bit more ambitious?.

[The Blues Ox]

1 hour ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Is it not possible for Fev to attempt more offloads, and come up with some attacking set plays?. Surely we have the quality of players able to vary the game play a bit?. Just depends if the coach is willing to throw the dice and be a bit more ambitious?.

Obviously you could try more offloads but do you have the players capable of that, do they have that sort of fitness that would be needed to go along with that as well? Fev team is just built around brute strength and it works really well most of the time.

[Monkeymagic22]

2 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Obviously you could try more offloads but do you have the players capable of that, do they have that sort of fitness that would be needed to go along with that as well? Fev team is just built around brute strength and it works really well most of the time.

I’d say that we do have players with that ability, and in the early matches the play involved more off loads. Plus if we ever get Ford back, him and Killer have plenty of creativity. Add Chissy to the mix, and potentially there’s something to work on. For me, we’ve been playing risk free basic rugby, probably in the hope of that being enough, which against better teams, it isn’t. Wether Ford will go down that path, is probably doubtful. 

[Michael Bates]

Ford being back and at some level of fitness is key to any sort of promotion push. We don't have anyone that can organise the team in his absence. Once he's back I want to see him and Chisholm in the halves every game.

[lingaro]

1 hour ago, The Blues Ox said:

Obviously you could try more offloads but do you have the players capable of that, do they have that sort of fitness that would be needed to go along with that as well? Fev team is just built around brute strength and it works really well most of the time.

Yei is an off load master that has had it coached out of him. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

33 minutes ago, Michael Bates said:

 Once he's back I want to see him and Chisholm in the halves every game.

My guess is that is what will happen. When Chisholm came back to the club it was Ford who was quoted in the interviews, not Long, Long was very enthusiastic about Astley when we signed him but lukewarm about Chisholm in a pre-game interview.

Ford knows very well what Chisholm can do ( or at least, has done in the past) as Chizz had some dominant games against York in his first spell.

 

[Daft old hooker]

I think there are 2 main things that need to change tactically, firstly the structure of the defence is narrow and it looks like the outside backs have been told to shoot out of the line if there’s an overlap which is why so many players are doing some to better effect than others. If we want to keep a narrow defence it needs to slide to cover the width of the field.

Secondly we need to play 2 proper half backs who can move the ball and create opportunities out wide which will also help our big forwards down the middle as it will make opposing players have to work harder.

[Fevrover]

2 hours ago, Daft old hooker said:

I think there are 2 main things that need to change tactically, firstly the structure of the defence is narrow and it looks like the outside backs have been told to shoot out of the line if there’s an overlap which is why so many players are doing some to better effect than others. If we want to keep a narrow defence it needs to slide to cover the width of the field.

Secondly we need to play 2 proper half backs who can move the ball and create opportunities out wide which will also help our big forwards down the middle as it will make opposing players have to work harder.

Can't you help the coaches?

[Daft old hooker]

21 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Can't you help the coaches?

Can’t help myself most of the time

[Fevrover]

Just now, Daft old hooker said:

Can’t help myself most of the time

No it's good fans can see different things need doing/ changing, hope Fordy  reads these boards lol.

[The Blues Ox]

1 hour ago, Fevrover said:

No it's good fans can see different things need doing/ changing, hope Fordy  reads these boards lol.

I think he will learn more on the Fax board, I got told to put away my 70's coaching manual the other day.  To be fair I do probably need a brush up on the rules as it still confuses me to this day why most ref's nowadays play such a big 5 yards.

[The Phantom Horseman]

No bans from the Fax game.

[Monkeymagic22]

49 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

No bans from the Fax game.

Thought Joey would be cert to get a ban. Good news.

[Fevrover]

4 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Thought Joey would be cert to get a ban. Good news.

Wasn't that bad imo.

[Ovenden Grunt]

2 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

No bans from the Fax game.

Unbelievable️JL looked as though he was trying his best to get sent off.