Match thread: Championship Round 27. Featherstone Rovers v Widnes Vikings. Saturday 23rd September 2023.

[sentoffagain2]

8 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

It will imo be extremely hard on JD if he doesn't play ,always gives 110%. But not everyone can play sadly.

   I would have JD defending the left edge.When we played York in the 1895 cup final he played left centre and was the best centre on view and Hardcatle played in the other centre position.But he seems to have slipped down the pecking order.Longy didn't give him much game time and he is not getting any more under Ford.Trouble is who to leave out.If given the job of strengthening our left edge  JD could do it no problem.

[POR]

1 hour ago, marklaspalmas said:

Ford's favourite XVII assuming Springer won't make it.

Killer

Luke Joey Hank GG

Ford Aekins

Locky Wildie Cozza

Day ET

Smith

Jones Moors Bussey Yei

 

And that's very hard on Hall, Lacans, Koppy, JD, Hau and to a lesser extent Chizz and Longstaff

Interesting team M

A couple of weeks ago I sat down with one of my grandsons and picked a team for the play offs realising it would upset a lot of folks on here because we left out fans favourites koppy  locky chizz  JD and Jack

WE picked it assuming everybody was fit so Luke  and Gadwin  would come into sundays starting 13 for Craig and james and on the bench Arama would replace Jack 

So there you have it

MK GG CH JL LB

CA JF

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BD ET

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CJ MY AH JM

[Monkeymagic22]

Personally I’d just have to play Hau and Davies on the interchange, both potentially game changers. As before I’d retain Hall on the wing, just due to him making less errors, and having a touch better skills. So for me, and if all fit

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Edited September 26, 2023 by Monkeymagic22

[marklaspalmas]

2 hours ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Personally I’d just have to play Hau and Davies on the interchange, both potentially game changers. As before I’d retain Hall on the wing, just due to him making less errors, and having a touch better skills. So for me, and if all fit

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You've dropped Connor Jones. Huge call.

 

[J Phil Loxton]

28 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

You've dropped Connor Jones. Huge call.

 

Ha ha and he's dropped Gaz Gale leaving us with only twelve starters lol

[Monkeymagic22]

33 minutes ago, marklaspalmas said:

You've dropped Connor Jones. Huge call.

 

Error there, and have edited. But even then I’ve left out Moors. Too difficult, so I’ll leave this to Fordy

[Monkeymagic22]

6 minutes ago, J Phil Loxton said:

Ha ha and he's dropped Gaz Gale leaving us with only twelve starters lol

I’m sure we’d still win

[The Phantom Horseman]

Seen a few posts saying they'd play Hau on the bench, whilst I can see why people would want to do this it would be an unusual selection in the modern game as he's an out-and-out edge back row and thus he'd have to replace one of the other edge back rows who would both normally play 80 minutes.

Generally the bench in the modern game is 3 middles plus a hooker. That means the starting 8, 10 and 13 each get spelled by another middle and the 9 by another hooker, those 4 players are the ones who rack up the most tackles. If you put an edge back row on the bench, it messes up the interchanges for the three middles.

Edited September 26, 2023 by The Phantom Horseman

[POR]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Seen a few posts saying they'd play Hau on the bench, whilst I can see why people would want to do this it would be an unusual selection in the modern game as he's an out-and-out edge back row and thus he'd have to replace one of the other edge back rows who would both normally play 80 minutes.

Generally the bench in the modern game is 3 middles plus a hooker. That means the starting 8, 10 and 13 each get spelled by another middle and the 9 by another hooker, those 4 players are the ones who rack up the most tackles. If you put an edge back row on the bench, it messes up the interchanges for the three middles.

That maybe the norm PH but on Sunday   we only had two middles Mckenzie and Junior   and against TO   only one  Junior  and we still managed to spell 8,10 13 and 9 in both games

So it looks like Fordy has thrown away his coaching handbook and picks who he thinks can do the job

[Monkeymagic22]

14 minutes ago, POR said:

That maybe the norm PH but on Sunday   we only had two middles Mckenzie and Junior   and against TO   only one  Junior  and we still managed to spell 8,10 13 and 9 in both games

So it looks like Fordy has thrown away his coaching handbook and picks who he thinks can do the job

Plus Hau already has the size of a middle. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

29 minutes ago, POR said:

That maybe the norm PH but on Sunday   we only had two middles Mckenzie and Junior   and against TO   only one  Junior  and we still managed to spell 8,10 13 and 9 in both games

So it looks like Fordy has thrown away his coaching handbook and picks who he thinks can do the job

That's incorrect. Bussey has played as a middle off the bench in both his games since his return (he and Moors replaced Lockwood and Smith against Widnes, for instance). And at Toulouse both Davies and Bussey played as middles off the bench.

They both have vast experience of this, of course - Davies has played  more in the middle in recent seasons after being an edge back row for a lot of his early Rovers career, whilst Bussey has alternated between middle and edge, though he has played more of the latter over the last year or two until his recent return from injury.

[gazza77]

1 minute ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

That's incorrect. Bussey has played as a middle off the bench in both his games since his return (he and Moors replaced Lockwood and Smith against Widnes, for instance). And at Toulouse both Davies and Bussey played as middles off the bench.

They both have vast experience of this, of course - Davies has played  more in the middle in recent seasons after being an edge back row for a lot of his early Rovers career, whilst Bussey has alternated between middle and edge, though he has played more of the latter over the last year or two until his recent return from injury.

Therein lies a strong argument for me to include at least one of JD or JB on the bench: flexibility. It's the same benefit with having both hookers in the 17, as CJ can cover centre competently and MW can cover half back if required, with both able to do 80 mins.

[The Phantom Horseman]

21 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Plus Hau already has the size of a middle. 

He may have the size - so does Leilua for that matter - but he has next to no experience at senior level of playing middle, which is a completely different position in terms of the demands it makes, especially on tackling and fitness. I can't believe Ford will contemplate trying him at that position (except in an emergency) for the first time in a semi final.

[POR]

9 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

That's incorrect. Bussey has played as a middle off the bench in both his games since his return (he and Moors replaced Lockwood and Smith against Widnes, for instance). And at Toulouse both Davies and Bussey played as middles off the bench.

They both have vast experience of this, of course - Davies has played  more in the middle in recent seasons after being an edge back row for a lot of his early Rovers career, whilst Bussey has alternated between middle and edge, though he has played more of the latter over the last year or two until his recent return from injury.

I know where they ended up playing but you can't tell me if your picking 4 middles for your 17 they would be top of the list

[POR]

1 hour ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

Plus Hau already has the size of a middle. 

But you don't need him to play as a  middle bring him on for Smith and let ET play 13

[The Phantom Horseman]

47 minutes ago, POR said:

I know where they ended up playing but you can't tell me if your picking 4 middles for your 17 they would be top of the list

No, but at Toulouse we were missing Springer & Yei (both injured) and Koppy (we're not really sure why he hasn't been playing).

For preference, at any one time I'd always rather have 2 of our "bigger" middles (Springer, Yei, Smith, Lockwood, Kopczak or Moors) on at any one time; individually I'd be happy with Bussey or Davies playing middle but I'd prefer not to have them both playing together, but at Toulouse we didn't have much option.

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

24 minutes ago, POR said:

But you don't need him to play as a  middle bring him on for Smith and let ET play 13

But then you're messing about with both the attacking and defensive structure mid-game. Also, Hau has played exclusively on the left and you'd be asking him to play on the right. Not to mention the fact that you're asking Taylor to switch to the middle at a time when you really want a fresh pair of legs and he's already played half an hour (or whatever).

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 hours ago, gazza77 said:

Therein lies a strong argument for me to include at least one of JD or JB on the bench: flexibility. It's the same benefit with having both hookers in the 17, as CJ can cover centre competently and MW can cover half back if required, with both able to do 80 mins.

Yes that's a good point in my opinion. Koppy, Yei, Lockwood, Springer, and probably Smith would be all at sea if asked to cover back row in case of an injury, whereas Davies and Bussey can play either position to a good level. Moors can too but hasn't played out wide much in the last couple of years.

[Featherstonerovers11]

My team would be if everyone comes back fit for semis 

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Edited September 26, 2023 by Featherstonerovers11

[RobLambert]

Whats all this nonsense about forwards playing on the wrong side / second rowers (sorry edges) being on the bench.

Next we'll be having a full back playing in the halves when we've got a full squad to pick from.

[The Phantom Horseman]

9 hours ago, RobLambert said:

Whats all this nonsense about forwards playing on the wrong side / second rowers (sorry edges) being on the bench.

Next we'll be having a full back playing in the halves when we've got a full squad to pick from.

Very amusing, but Aekins has been playing half back for half the season and there's a case that he's simply played better, or at least as well as,  our other "recognised" options (FWIW, for me it's close between him and Lacans to partner Ford).

A little bit different, perhaps, to wanting to play a 19-year-old back row as a middle, a position he he has never played at senior level, in a semi final, or wanting to shuffle the team structure around halfway through a semi final.

[bigbaldnmad]

My guess would be that Hau is our top try scoring forward, after Jones, why wouldn't we play him?

It really is difficult, and why we would all pick a slightly different 17.

 

[The Phantom Horseman]

4 minutes ago, bigbaldnmad said:

My guess would be that Hau is our top try scoring forward, after Jones, why wouldn't we play him?

It really is difficult, and why we would all pick a slightly different 17.

 

There certainly is a case to be made for Hau over Day at left edge back row. The selection for the last couple of games suggests that Fordy prefers the experience of Day, but Hau will be unlucky to miss out if that's the case.

If we get beaten in the semi (or final) I doubt it will be down to selection, more under-performing on the day and/or our opponents playing out of their skins. As you say, so many tight decisions where we'd all have slightly different opinions, but there probably isn't a lot between various options for the 17.

[POR]

13 minutes ago, bigbaldnmad said:

My guess would be that Hau is our top try scoring forward, after Jones, why wouldn't we play him?

It really is difficult, and why we would all pick a slightly different 17.

 

Exactly B we've seen teams on here with  NO Brad NO Connor   NO Luke NO Junior  and Arama starting or sitting on the bench 

[Monkeymagic22]

14 minutes ago, POR said:

Exactly B we've seen teams on here with  NO Brad NO Connor   NO Luke NO Junior  and Arama starting or sitting on the bench 

My omission of Connor Jones was an error, clearly he’s one of the first names on our team sheet.