Challenge Cup - Fev @ Home

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The squad has been announced today for the Fev game. Kesik out injured is no surprise. Sa'u also misses out due to a Pec issue, hopefully nothing too serious and he will be fit for the league campaign.

Nathan Conroy comes into the squad, not sure if this is a new signing or if he's potentially playing as a trialist. It was announced in the online match programme he was trialing with us for 6 weeks, this might have been accelerated with Kesik's injury and our lack of options at hooker. 

Will be interesting to see who is the bench 9 (presuming Brown starts there again) and who plays centre in place of Sa'u. The only options seen to be Graham to centre and Downey/Lambourne on the wing, or Robson to centre and Lynam into the back row.

I expect Fev to be too good on the day for us but it would be nice to see another competitive and spirited performance, and you just never know.

[Dovster]

I'm not sure how this years Fev team compares to last seasons but I agree That we are definitely second favourites.

I think we showed last week that we were not intimidated by higher league opposition and for large parts competed well. Hopefully this week will be similar.

We are still work in progress as most teams are at this stage and it appears our strength in depth will be tested this week. It should be a great opportunity for some players who have not started the season as first choice.

We just need to build on last weeks performance and hopefully these games we have played against Championship opposition will put us in good stead for the league season ahead.

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49 minutes ago, Dovster said:

I'm not sure how this years Fev team compares to last seasons but I agree That we are definitely second favourites.

I think we showed last week that we were not intimidated by higher league opposition and for large parts competed well. Hopefully this week will be similar.

We are still work in progress as most teams are at this stage and it appears our strength in depth will be tested this week. It should be a great opportunity for some players who have not started the season as first choice.

We just need to build on last weeks performance and hopefully these games we have played against Championship opposition will put us in good stead for the league season ahead.

They've had a high turn over of players but have still retained and signed very well. The majority of their 17 this weekend will either have been super league or top end championship last season, so it's going to be a big test that is for sure. I expect them to be better than Bradford were last week. That said, their starting half back has just signed for Hull KR so that does mean they'll have to have a shuffle around.

I see this as another game where we can improve and keep building the partnerships on field that will be key to the season ahead.

We've arguably 4 starters missing (Kesik, Sa'u, DFJ and Bishop) so the relatively small squad is already being tested, but it will be good exposure for the younger lads thay do get game time. Fingers crossed there's no further injuries or suspensions as the next game is likely to be our first league game.

[Dovster]

I thought we played very poorly at times today and this was fully exploited by a decent Fev side.

With some 1st teamers missing it was a great opportunity for the fringe players to show what they could do. Unfortunately our strength in depth is not good enough for this level. Fortunately we won't be playing Fev again this season

Thought Ioane was immense today and we had a few other good performances including Graham. However for the most part there was a big difference in standard.

Hopefully we learned some lessons today and use this experience to improve. Bring on Cornwall.

[Indigogo]

Yeah I would have to agree, we were way off it today. We started fairly well and held our own for the opening 20. The fact we took 2 rather than running it suggests to me we thought it was going to be much closer than it ended up. I can't think that Matt Foster will be happy with that performance at all. Sloppy tackling, poor discipline, stupid short kick offs. 

Our fringe players who come in are having their first dig at adult rugby. Walkley, Downey, Dean are all players that are unlikely to feature if we have everyone available. Today they came up against a big, physical Featherstone side and they were far too good. That's no fault of theirs, and they didn't do anything particularly bad or wrong, it's just a fact of where we are. We have to consider we had DFJ, Bishop, Sa'u, Hatton and Kesik all missing today (granted 2 haven't yet played for us) 

A lot has been said about Fev with them having a turn over of players, but they will still be top 3 in champ for me. They still have players to come into that squad and they were head and shoulders above what Bradford threw at us last week. 

A couple of weeks off for us now before Cornwall at home. Hopefully the 4 injured players are available for that, and we might even have an update on DFJ by then.

[Featherstonerovers2000]

As a Fev fan I thought u looked better in today game then u did in both games last season just showing having big name players dosnt always provided performances. Good luck for season and hopefully see u back in championship

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10 hours ago, Featherstonerovers2000 said:

As a Fev fan I thought u looked better in today game then u did in both games last season just showing having big name players dosnt always provided performances. Good luck for season and hopefully see u back in championship

We looked decent for 20 minutes but other than that it was very one sided. You were too big and strong for us and our outside backs failed to make any yards. 

As I said above, I still think you will get third behind Wakey and Toulouse. You have a strong 17/18 and if you add a 6 to replace Reynolds you'll be right up there. Good luck for the season ahead.

[Mr Hicks]

It's very difficult for teams in our division to have strength in depth. I think that teams that finish high up or over perform will find they got through the season without too many injuries. 

I think if a couple of our props get injured or suspended we could lose to the likes of Workington, North Wales and definitely Oldham. We will need to be at full strength to have any chance of beating Oldham.

I watched Oldham lose to Swinton on Sunday. They made so many mistakes and were simply out enthused.

Might be a good thing that we play Cornwall first to blow the cobwebs off before playing Workington. 

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3 hours ago, Mr Hicks said:

It's very difficult for teams in our division to have strength in depth. I think that teams that finish high up or over perform will find they got through the season without too many injuries. 

I think if a couple of our props get injured or suspended we could lose to the likes of Workington, North Wales and definitely Oldham. We will need to be at full strength to have any chance of beating Oldham.

I watched Oldham lose to Swinton on Sunday. They made so many mistakes and were simply out enthused.

Might be a good thing that we play Cornwall first to blow the cobwebs off before playing Workington. 

We do lack strength in depth across the park. Full back is Pickersgill, with Thomas and Walkley for cover. On the wing we seem to have 6 players for 2 places. (DFJ, Walkley, Graham, Downey, Copland and Lambourne). Graham seems to be the only cover we have at centre, which means we have to bring in a new winger if Sa'u or Ryder are missing. Plenty of options in the halves with Miller, Dean, Thomas and Bishop. We have Brown, Kesik, Bishop and now Conroy at 9 so that does seem to be covered at the moment. 

We have Ioane, Maher, Schofield and Hatton who are clearly our first 4 options at prop. We have Parker who has played prop but has being playing 13. Then after that we have Lynam and Bailey as our only back up options, but we've only seen Bailey once so far during pre season and the cup games. Lynam, for me, is more of a back rower than prop, not that I can really fault him, strong defensively and always commited. Robson and Lanskey seem to have the back row position nailed down. If we have signed Conroy as a 9 for the season I'd like to see another prop and maybe centre come in, but as you say it's hard to sign people on the basis of them being back up. That being said we've carried a back on the bench the last 3 games when we'd ideally have another middle on there. 

I'm sure things will change if and when Injuries and suspension hit and the club will look to improve the squad if possible throughout the season. Now SL has started and once Champ starts, I'm sure players will become available and looking for game time, it happens every year. Hopefully we have pretty much a full roster to choose from come week 1 against Cornwall.