Match thread: 1895 Cup. Hunslet v Featherstone Rovers. Sunday 28th January 2024.

[Rovers fev]

28 minutes ago, jamescolin said:

Not voted for yet. Was he that good?

Looked promising, there was just too many good performances today I thought young bowes played well in the halves again 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Some thoughts on the Hunslet game...
I thoguht we did a good job against what was very ordinary opposition. Hunslet were weak in contact and didn't have any line speed and as a result what were 5-yard carries in the pre-season games became 15 or 20 -yard carries in this one, they just weren't a match for us physically. Still, it was encouraging that we put them away without any difficulty.

Both Reynolds and Addy just strike me as the type of players who are going to be much more valuable in a Championship tream than a SL one, the game seemed to be played at a different speed when those two had the ball and they'll be crucial to our chances this season.

I agree with the posters who say that Wacokecoke looks very promising, even though a lot of his big yardage carries came against some fairly weak tackling. I'm not as convinced as some that he's going to be an every-week starter for us yet, as his defensive positioning is still miles off, the opening try where he wandered in off his wing was a carbon copy of Bradford's first try against us.

This won't be a popular view but it's worth pointing out again that we didn't sign a recognised right wing this season (and gave Wynne jersey number 2) and it still wouldn't surprise me if Louis Senior begins the season, at least, as our regular starter in that position in the league games. We haven't had access to any DR players yet but I think it might be premature to think we are going to play our fringe players ahead of them when they are made available.

Of our other players who might have been on the fringes the one who has impressed me most is Mo Kamano, he doesn't look at all out of place does he? Even if he doesn't get into the 17 at the start of the regular season I can see him playing plenty of games for us, I think he looks a really solid signing already.

On a side note, I do think our left hand side looks miles stronger than our right hand side so far. If anyone is going to give Walmsley a run for his money for top Championship try scorer this season it might be Gaz Gale because Reynolds and Minikin are going to set him up for plenty of opportunities.

[Rovers fev]

Agree with the comment on the left side I think Gale minikin Brad day and Reynolds is as good as any combination in the league especially with aekins who tends to favour the left side also 

[Featherstonerovers2000]

56 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I agree with the posters who say that Wacokecoke looks very promising, even though a lot of his big yardage carries came against some fairly weak tackling. I'm not as convinced as some that he's going to be an every-week starter for us yet, as his defensive positioning is still miles off, the opening try where he wandered in off his wing was a carbon copy of Bradford's first try against us.

I think is more the new defending style as gale and minikin are doing the exact same shooting out of line on the other side 

[gazza77]

4 minutes ago, Featherstonerovers2000 said:

I think is more the new defending style as gale and minikin are doing the exact same shooting out of line on the other side 

Wouldn't that be the same defending style as last season then, given Joey, Hank, Luke and Hally all used to do the same?

[The Phantom Horseman]

3 minutes ago, Featherstonerovers2000 said:

I think is more the new defending style as gale and minikin are doing the exact same shooting out of line on the other side 

Yes, we certainly saw plenty of it last season and it let us down plenty of times then too, notably with Joey Leilua.

Players have to have the awareness and timing to do it if they're going to do it. If the other team has a clear overlap sometimes you have to gamble, but on the two occasions I mentioned there wasn't an overlap at all.

[POR]

watching it back looks like we got the new play the ball shenanigans off pat