Match thread: Championship Round 7. Featherstone Rovers v Halifax. Sunday 5th May 2024.

[Rovers fev]

Lacans 4-6 weeks away still he’s only just out of his boot 

Ford wants to use Reynolds but obviously he’s been banned 

no game next week followed by 6 tricky games 

rams away 

barrow away 

Swinton home 

Sheffield away 

York home 

tolouse away 

 

id expect lacans to be back by Whitehaven at home on July 7th 

 

[sentoffagain2]

   I think the scoreline flattered us a bit but today we did take our chances.Hooley was Ok at full back and he kicked some very good goals from wide out.I did think Fax's first try came from a forward pass.Bussey is slowly finding his form and worked hard. Wynne took his tries well even if they didn't require much from him.Thought both scrum halves played well.Turner is not your typical number 7 he is not involved in the whole 80 min.He tends to play in phases but i like what he has to offer.Good pair of hands and he nearly always beats the first man with a step.The second man too in many cases he has a rugby brain that's for sure.The game did lack a bit of quality from both sides but i enjoyed the game.

[bigbaldnmad]

That was a hard watch for 60 minutes.

We were poor at times and really struggled against the worst Fax team I can remember.

Fax look totally devoid of any team spirit or organisation, on paper they look to have a decent side, just look like 17 strangers on the pitch.

If only we had played with the same determination as we did after Gale was sent off, we would have had a field day.

Young ref today seemed to struggle, not sure he got the sending off right, Inman seemed to be loosing height as a mitigating factor to the shoulder to the head, perhaps a yellow would have been right. Don't know why he didn't even award a penalty for the foul on Hooley. Unfortunately we are where we are with the lack of experienced Refs.

[Fevrover]

9 hours ago, bigbaldnmad said:

That was a hard watch for 60 minutes.

We were poor at times and really struggled against the worst Fax team I can remember.

Fax look totally devoid of any team spirit or organisation, on paper they look to have a decent side, just look like 17 strangers on the pitch.

If only we had played with the same determination as we did after Gale was sent off, we would have had a field day.

Young ref today seemed to struggle, not sure he got the sending off right, Inman seemed to be loosing height as a mitigating factor to the shoulder to the head, perhaps a yellow would have been right. Don't know why he didn't even award a penalty for the foul on Hooley. Unfortunately we are where we are with the lack of experienced Refs.

Excellent summary that.

[Daft old hooker]

11 hours ago, bigbaldnmad said:

That was a hard watch for 60 minutes.

We were poor at times and really struggled against the worst Fax team I can remember.

Fax look totally devoid of any team spirit or organisation, on paper they look to have a decent side, just look like 17 strangers on the pitch.

If only we had played with the same determination as we did after Gale was sent off, we would have had a field day.

Young ref today seemed to struggle, not sure he got the sending off right, Inman seemed to be loosing height as a mitigating factor to the shoulder to the head, perhaps a yellow would have been right. Don't know why he didn't even award a penalty for the foul on Hooley. Unfortunately we are where we are with the lack of experienced Refs.

I didn’t get to the game as I was on dad taxi duty but did listen to game on radio Leeds, really strange they talked about what a great game it was. It did sound like the referee missed quite a bit.

According to Facebook ( I know take it with a pinch of salt) Gale said in the stand that the referee had viewed it as a shoulder charge and having seen the incident the incident on YouTube I can understand the decision but think it could have gone either way with red or yellow, I know not like me to be the voice of reason. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

On 03/05/2024 at 10:19, Michael Bates said:

I think Tanner has gone home.

I think you're right. He has posted on his Instagram today from Shell Cove (in Aus) which seems to suggest he's already back home.

[Phil Briscoe]

That’s two middles we’ve lost in recent weeks if confirmed. Definitely be good to bring another one in on a permanent basis not just rely on DR. 

[POR]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

 which seems to suggest he's already back home.

So a week after being in the haven 21 he's BACK in NSW? Looks like the wonderful world of Featherstone Rovers get's more interesting

[Wolfey Rovers]

3 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I think you're right. He has posted on his Instagram today from Shell Cove (in Aus) which seems to suggest he's already back home.

That's rather frustrating and the lack of clarification from the club other than mark making a comment on a Facebook thread. Towing in the middles will bite us

[Featherstonerovers2000]

3 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

I think you're right. He has posted on his Instagram today from Shell Cove (in Aus) which seems to suggest he's already back home.

all the players have been giving a week off to go on hoildays and take a rest so maybe just gone for the week ??

[haskey]

I may be wrong but Tanner came to UK with his girl friend, they had a fallout and she has gone back to Os he has chased after her for a reconciliation, me thinks.

[RobLambert]

He's got to be up there with the likes of Currier, Verlinden, the Batley 4, all the PNG lot from 2019, J Ford and Ben Reynolds as one of the worst / most disappointing signings in the clubs history.  There's been a lot of them.

[wasginger]

I think there's one player that deserves special mention from the game yesterday, and that's Brad England. In the 1st half he did his job but was guilty of a couple of errors, but in the 2nd half he certainly made up fot it. Plus when Gale was sent off he was moved into centre. Taking the ball he runs hard and tackles with the same commitment. Well done Brad England.

[Wolfey Rovers]

2 hours ago, RobLambert said:

He's got to be up there with the likes of Currier, Verlinden, the Batley 4, all the PNG lot from 2019, J Ford and Ben Reynolds as one of the worst / most disappointing signings in the clubs history.  There's been a lot of them.

John ford signings still amazes me. It was mentioned he was one of our higher earners. Played less than 5 games. 

[Wolfey Rovers]

43 minutes ago, wasginger said:

I think there's one player that deserves special mention from the game yesterday, and that's Brad England. In the 1st half he did his job but was guilty of a couple of errors, but in the 2nd half he certainly made up fot it. Plus when Gale was sent off he was moved into centre. Taking the ball he runs hard and tackles with the same commitment. Well done Brad England.

Signing of the season for me. Bradford really dropped the ball letting him go.

[gazza77]

3 hours ago, RobLambert said:

He's got to be up there with the likes of Currier, Verlinden, the Batley 4, all the PNG lot from 2019, J Ford and Ben Reynolds as one of the worst / most disappointing signings in the clubs history.  There's been a lot of them.

Assuming he is going, he isn't the first young lad who struggled to settle in the UK, and won't be the last.

[Rovers fev]

With 2 weeks to dewsbury hopefully we get springer back and can get Reynolds in, as effective as turner is dewsburys pitch is narrow so could do with a good organiser 

[Gooleboy]

4 hours ago, RobLambert said:

He's got to be up there with the likes of Currier, Verlinden, the Batley 4, all the PNG lot from 2019, J Ford and Ben Reynolds as one of the worst / most disappointing signings in the clubs history.  There's been a lot of them.

Very harsh for me putting Currier in that group. He was one of the Great Britain centres at the time and sustained a career threatening injury on his debut for us.

[RobLambert]

45 minutes ago, gazza77 said:

Assuming he is going, he isn't the first young lad who struggled to settle in the UK, and won't be the last.

Yeah fair enough I get that.  It always worries me when overseas players arrive in Jan / Feb and the weather is horrendous compared to what they are used to back home (amongst other things). 

It just bothers me when we don't see see enough of them - In Tanners case a couple of very brief cameo appearances 2 months apart with no visible sign of an injury ?   I'm not saying he hasn't been injured but I'd like to see a player who we've flown from the other side of the world put his hand up to play when carrying a bit of a knock. 

[RobLambert]

21 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

Very harsh for me putting Currier in that group. He was one of the Great Britain centres at the time and sustained a career threatening injury on his debut for us.

Probably wrong to lump them together but I did say worst and most disappointing.  Like you say Currier was a great player when he joined us and might still be the biggest Fev signing I remember. Still in his prime at 28.  GB international.  Top points scorer in an NRL season playing for a Balmain team of legends and played in the grand final against maybe even bigger Canberra legends.  Regarding the injury I thought it was pre-season but either way we still mention it now.  As in - who will be this years Currier.  From memory didn't he return the next season and score a couple against Wigan then disappear ??    

But I'm happy to swap him for Mark Aston in that list...

    

[Gooleboy]

8 hours ago, RobLambert said:

Probably wrong to lump them together but I did say worst and most disappointing.  Like you say Currier was a great player when he joined us and might still be the biggest Fev signing I remember. Still in his prime at 28.  GB international.  Top points scorer in an NRL season playing for a Balmain team of legends and played in the grand final against maybe even bigger Canberra legends.  Regarding the injury I thought it was pre-season but either way we still mention it now.  As in - who will be this years Currier.  From memory didn't he return the next season and score a couple against Wigan then disappear ??    

But I'm happy to swap him for Mark Aston in that list...

    

You are correct, he got the injury in a pre season friendly against Dewsbury. Signing Aston to replace a very underrated Brett Daunt was a terrible decision.

[marklaspalmas]

9 hours ago, RobLambert said:

Probably wrong to lump them together but I did say worst and most disappointing.  Like you say Currier was a great player when he joined us and might still be the biggest Fev signing I remember. Still in his prime at 28.  GB international.  Top points scorer in an NRL season playing for a Balmain team of legends and played in the grand final against maybe even bigger Canberra legends.  Regarding the injury I thought it was pre-season but either way we still mention it now.  As in - who will be this years Currier.  From memory didn't he return the next season and score a couple against Wigan then disappear ??    

But I'm happy to swap him for Mark Aston in that list...

    

Probably worth a thread in its own right.

I think expectations play a huge part.

Leo Casey was a solid enough prop, but the large transfer fee created an expectation he couldn't libe up to.

Etu Uaisele was a decent NRL winger and looked the part, but never really settled.

Ryan Verlinden's reputation just got bigger and bigger the longer we waited for his visa. Disappointment was bound to follow.

Tales of Joey Leilua's amazing pay packet created an unrealistic sense of what he'd do.

Cam King, Nu Brown had injury histories and so perhaps seemed relatively unheralded. They were allowed to settle and get on with it.

As has been said, Brett Daunt had an impossible act to follow, but Mark Aston's transfer was set up to fail.

With Currier, the injury was unlucky, and he was nowhere near the same level as the player he replaced. But who was? We'd have been better grabbing an import like Greg Austin or Iva Ropati with no transfer fee and making do. But the pressure was on the club to make a big statement.

[sentoffagain2]

           Brett Daunt and  BrendanTutta coached our young un a few times at school.He said Brett  coached him very well and liked him.Brendan bumped into him and his mum a couple of times in Ponte and always remembered his name which with all the kids he coached i was impressed with.Having Spoken to Mark Aston he told me too much was expected of him with his high price tag.Fev gave him the captaincy,goal kicking duties and playmaker   roles some of his new teamates were a bit pi--ed off.

[Rovers fev]

Bret Delaney 

Gareth carvell

paul wood 

Gareth raynor 

sam Irwin 

Are all players who have come and never lived up to the hype aswell 

[The Phantom Horseman]

Back to the Halifax game...I though it was probably the fourth game in a row that we could well have lost but managed to eke out a win. I guess the good thing is that we are managing to find a way to win games, though we continue to look vulnerable in certain areas especially defensively out wide.

Fordy is at least trying to address our weak areas as best he can, he's tried Bowes, Jones and Addy at half back, I think we all know none of them are the long-term answer but we are managing to win games still and we might have Reynolds available soon, and then Lacans a fair bit further down the line.

He also tried switching Gale and Wynne to opposite sides presumably in an effort to shore up that right edge defence. ironically Gale whose decision making is usually quite good jammed in twice when he didn't need to, one led to Eden's try and on the other occasion Eden dropped the ball. Feel for Gaz a bit, having not had too many tryscoring chances lately he had to watch from the other wing as four fairly straighforward chances fell to Wynne on the wing where Gale has played all season, and then he gets sent off, under the current rules it probably was the correct decision but he has done that type of "body check" many times before and not been penalised for it, just the timing of it and getting his shoulder there before wrapping cost him.

I thought Massey showed the value he should be able to bring granted a clear run of health, he played big minutes without showing signs of tiring too much considering his long absence. He's not the type of forward who will steamroller opponents or make highlight-reel plays but we have lacked a grafting, big-minutes forward since Lockwood retired and hopefully he'll be a steadying influence especially in defence and round the ruck now he's back.

By contrast Albert played like he'd had a bit of a rocket up his backside following a couple of ordinary performances, ran in with a bit more venom and managed offloads on his first three carries, and he charged onto a short ball for his try. He was almost statuesque though when Keyes waltzed past him in the second half and he was taken off almost immediately afterwards, at the moment he looks a short-term impact middle but doesn't seem able to sustain his game for long periods. He looked to be limping a bit at the end so maybe that had an impact.

Turner is our star turn at the moment and I don't think we would have won that game without him. He played the decisive part in four of our six tries and helped set up the position for another, as well as taking on most of the in-game kicking responsibilities. He's the only player in our team who looks capable of creating openings at the moment, he does have quiet periods like any half back but at this level if your half back is creating 1 or 2 tries each week he's probably doing his job, Chisholm was similar even at his peak in that he would often have a quiet day but produce a couple of bits of brilliance that would have a big impact and Turner looks out of the same mould to me. I hope we can hold on to him because even though he'd be a quota player he'd probably be appealing to one or two of the lower SL clubs.

Think the season will continue all the way through with hard-to-predict games so it should continue to be a fun rdie.