Featherstone Rovers 2024 Squad

[Featherstonerovers2000]

Dean Robert’s is a big lad who carries ball strong so Even if he is a squad player who plays when needed 

[Rovers fev]

4 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

It looks to me based on what the club has said about only halving the spend this year that we've tried to frontload the squad with 13-15 high-end Championship quality players, split between retained players from last year's squad and the half a dozen or so new signings who were with SL clubs last year.

That means we won't have much more to spend on back-ups unlike last year where we had plenty of quality players kicking their heels in the stands. But it does mean that we will probably be looking at a handful of lower-profile, cheaper players to fill out the squad for things like Cup games and as fringe players, and that we'll be using DR a fair bit in league games.

 

Think that’s the way to go start with a small squad and then see if we need to build in the year, think we cal all accept we’re not gunna be too 4 material next year looking at other teams like wakey Toulouse Doncaster York and Sheffield all looking to have very good squads 

[sentoffagain2]

44 minutes ago, Rovers fev said:

Think that’s the way to go start with a small squad and then see if we need to build in the year, think we cal all accept we’re not gunna be too 4 material next year looking at other teams like wakey Toulouse Doncaster York and Sheffield all looking to have very good squads 

     Been there got thew T shirt i can remember when we won the Championship  and in those days with the pits open we had attendances of about 4500.Then when times were bad we only attracted 650.Looking forward to next season when we will be the underdogs in some games.Just hope Fordy lets them play a more expansive game  with a bit more variation in attack.

[POR]

On 25/11/2023 at 22:51, bigbaldnmad said:

You have more confidence than me.

To be honest B I would say I'm more pragmatic than confident  because MC has put his life and soul into the club I don't think he would let us start the friendlies  with only 14 players so I think the quantity will increase before Xmas but if they are quality well that's a whole different ball game

[The Phantom Horseman]

On 26/11/2023 at 07:21, FR23 said:

 the club only prepared for promotion and didn’t have a back up plan and now they are in the ! I’ve heard fevs got a few players on trial including jack Arnold and dean Roberts! Dean Roberts has got potential but Jack Arnold is a waste of space 

On 12/10/2023 at 10:34, FR23 said:

It’s not what you know it’s who you know. But it’s from a very good source. I know mark fordy and Ian are working hard this week with player recruitment with a reduced budget but a budget that’s still top end championship 

We've gone from the second post to the one above it in the space of about 6 weeks, so it's probably worth trying to join the dots.

We had a squad averaging about 28 players last season and the general rumour seemed to be that we had a spend of around £900K (Martin Vickers was quoted as saying £1 million but maybe that might include some of the duplicate players who came in when others left). That would average out at about £32k per player, but it seems fairly obvious some would be on a lot more and some on less than that.

This year MV has stated that we will be going with half last year's budget. So far we have announced 7 retentions from last year, plus 6 new signings who were with SL clubs last year (plus Morris Kamano).

If we also retain, say, 3 of the 4 players from last year that we still don't know about, that will mean we will have 15 or 16 players who would all have been legitimate targets for top-end Championship clubs. I'm aware that we were rumoured to be offering reduced terms to our players for 2024 compared to 2023, but presumably we wouldn't have had too much leeway with the likes of Jones, Aekins, Springer, Gale, Bussey etc, or indeed with players like Reynolds, Addy, Massey etc - these are all players that you can imagine the likes of Wakefield, Bradford, York,  Sheffield, Halifax, even Doncaster based on their spending, might have been very interested in.

So I reckon in retaining those 15 or so players we have probably come close to our budget for 2024 and that's why I think we'll be signing (in the words of James Ford recently) some "young, hungry players keen to prove themselves. Our partnership with Hull KR is vital to this."

I don't think we could afford to keep/sign players of the quality of Jones, Aekins, Springer, Reynolds, Addy etc AND have a 23/24-man squad of top-end Championship players. So my guess is we'll run with about 15 or 16 established good-quality players, a handful of Kamano-type cheaper, young players who will get a chance early on in the 1895 Cup & Challenge Cup, and then in the league a regular smattering of DR players from Hull KR.

All in all it reminds me a bit of the 2019 season, after 17 players had left us and by the time of our opening game we had about 22 players, but they included Brett Delaney (who never played for us), and some young players such as Spencer Darley, Jimmy Beckett, Kiedan Hartley, Morgan Punchard, Dakota Whylie, and Jimmy McDaniel, who barely played for us if at all plus a couple more youngsters such as Jack Render and Danny Maskill who played a few games. We filled in with regular DRs and loans, added one or two shrewd mid-season signings, and it was one of the most enjoyable seasons in recent years, I guess that's what we're hoping for again.

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by The Phantom Horseman

[bigbaldnmad]

While paying top end SL admission prices...

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

17 minutes ago, bigbaldnmad said:

While paying top end SL admission prices...

 

Sure. I think with the disappointment of last season and the goal of promotion now having pretty much disappeared, attendances are likely to be down and the club are having to lean on the hardcore who they know will buy season tickets come what may. I guess the club will have tried to pitch prices at a point to try and maximise revenue, unfortunate for those who can't afford to buy season tickets etc but presumably they've done the maths on pricing.

It's encouraging to see fans rallying round in other areas, with things like the Supporter Sponsorship package seemingly having already been 100% filled and the FB banter page having raised around £2k for player sponsorship I think, as well as the ongoing fundraising with squad builder.

[bigbaldnmad]

Good to see Josh has signed for next year, and looks like he is fit to resume playing.

Very good news!!!

[The Phantom Horseman]

28 minutes ago, bigbaldnmad said:

Good to see Josh has signed for next year, and looks like he is fit to resume playing.

Very good news!!!

Absolutely, the best thing about it of course is that he's clearly on the mend and getting his health back, but if he's able to contribute on the field next year that will be a massive bonus.

[Monkeymagic22]

28 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Absolutely, the best thing about it of course is that he's clearly on the mend and getting his health back, but if he's able to contribute on the field next year that will be a massive bonus.

Fantastic news, and looks like he’s been given the go ahead from medical professionals as well. He’s such an 100% player and a good bloke.

[haskey]

I am sure you are right M he would be foolish if he did not take medical professional go ahead. Very good news

[Gooleboy]

Good luck for next season Josh.

[jamescolin]

Any news on Hannikin yet? Welcome back Josh

[gazza77]

You'd assume Ellis has also signed up for 2024 now.

 

[Monkeymagic22]

2 minutes ago, gazza77 said:

You'd assume Ellis has also signed up for 2024 now.

 

Error there by them, but common knowledge really.

[Fevrover]

3 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

Good luck for next season Josh.

Definitely.

[POR]

Fordy says Josh  will strengthen the team and squad across a number of positions but I only wan t him in the centres through injury and suspension I want him to concentrate on becoming one of the best back rowers in the division

[Total Rugby League]

FEATHERSTONE ROVERS inspiration Josh Hardcastle has fought back from a stroke suffered earlier in the year to sign a new deal with the West Yorkshire...

View the full article

[Coralinejones]

22 hours ago, jamescolin said:

Any news on Hannikin yet? Welcome back Josh

Suggy knows what’s happening .

[jamescolin]

11 minutes ago, Coralinejones said:

Suggy knows what’s happening .

OK! So Suggy tell us. 

[marklaspalmas]

From all of last year's departing players only Ford and Chisholm have not announced plans.

[The Phantom Horseman]

A few weeks ago someone on the Widnes forum confidently proclaimed that they would be announcing Ford shortly, but that doesn't seem to have materialised, seemed a strange move for a guy with his injury history to move to playing on a plastic pitch at his age for a team that's supposedly short of money anyway.

[marklaspalmas]

https://twitter.com/FevRoversRLFC/status/1730648735640649906

Yei is back!

[Monkeymagic22]

14 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

https://twitter.com/FevRoversRLFC/status/1730648735640649906

Yei is back!

Happy with that, got massive potential.

[The Phantom Horseman]

We can now do a potential 17-man gameday squad based on players we have had officially confirmed. We are still waiting on Hankinson so haven't included him, but hopefully he'll be confirmed soon (FWIW he follows Addy, Massey and Wynne on Instagram).

1 Aekins
2 Wynne
3 Hardcastle
4 Minikin
5 Gale
6 Reynolds
7 Lacans
8 Springer
9 Jones
10 Massey
11 Bussey
12 Day
13 Addy
subs
14 Bowes
15 Yei
16 Longstaff
17 Kamano

Obviously still short of any sort of depth at all and DR will cover that to a degree, as Ford has said recruitment remains an ongoing process.