Sat 18th-Sun 19th May: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[Expatknight]

2 hours ago, wilsontown said:

In other news, Halifax must be absolutely terrible.

Very surprised at how poor Fax were today, I usually enjoy games between us as they like to play rugby, even when we lose, however today they looked a shadow of their former selves even though there were some of the usual suspects there. I don’t know how much Widdop is on but whatever it is it is too much. I thought the ref had a pretty sound game too, to be fair whenever we have had him he has been pretty decent. The best refs are the ones you don’t notice.

[Rene_Artois]

Strong showing from The Dons today. We got the basics right and wore Batley down. Rich Hornes post match interview was spot on. Worth a look. 

[Rene_Artois]

1 minute ago, Expatknight said:

Very surprised at how poor Fax were today, I usually enjoy games between us as they like to play rugby, even when we lose, however today they looked a shadow of their former selves even though there were some of the usual suspects there. I don’t know how much Widdop is on but whatever it is it is too much. I thought the ref had a pretty sound game too, to be fair whenever we have had him he has been pretty decent. The best refs are the ones you don’t notice.

Do you think Dons can get a result next week?

[Fevrover]

8 minutes ago, Rene_Artois said:

Do you think Dons can get a result next week?

Don't see why not.

Edited May 19, 2024 by Fevrover

[Fevrover]

10 minutes ago, Expatknight said:

Very surprised at how poor Fax were today, I usually enjoy games between us as they like to play rugby, even when we lose, however today they looked a shadow of their former selves even though there were some of the usual suspects there. I don’t know how much Widdop is on but whatever it is it is too much. I thought the ref had a pretty sound game too, to be fair whenever we have had him he has been pretty decent. The best refs are the ones you don’t notice.

Said when we played them there's players there who seem to have been there years and not getting any younger.

[Expatknight]

13 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Said when we played them there's players there who seem to have been there years and not getting any younger.

It really was a strange one today, half the Fax players were out of position and that obviously didn’t work, the tries they scored were from mistakes by the Knights - I know that is often the case but they didn’t look like creating anything from open play which is unusual for a Fax team. The Knights to be fair were pretty good today, the young lad at Full Back who came in from Hull ( Litton) looked very handy as did his Hull team mate Pele. But the standout for me was Hingano, his half back partner, Pemberton, was also solid, I really like him, I think he has bags of potential for the future and he has a fantastic attitude. The impressive thing for me was how the team played for each other, hopefully we might just have turned the corner. Only downside was Lineham looks like he has picked up a bicep injury.

[Rene_Artois]

49 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Don't see why not.

We've got better week on week since the Fev thrashing. Today was a really solid performance. Everyone just did their job effectively. I think we're adjusting pretty well to this level. Good performances today from some ex Fev lads. Ferres, Briscoe and most notably Boas. To be fair though Watson is a lot more Donny than Fev!

Edited May 19, 2024 by Rene_Artois

[N2022]

59 minutes ago, Rene_Artois said:

Strong showing from The Dons today. We got the basics right and wore Batley down. Rich Hornes post match interview was spot on. Worth a look. 

Do you mean the highlights are worth a look or we should all be seeking out the Rich Hornes interview? If the latter, I think I'll give it a skip, Thank you ...

[Rene_Artois]

1 minute ago, N2022 said:

Do you mean the highlights are worth a look or we should all be seeking out the Rich Hornes interview? If the latter, I think I'll give it a skip, Thank you ...

Horne's interview. Thank you too

[Keep The Faith]

1 hour ago, Rene_Artois said:

Strong showing from The Dons today. We got the basics right and wore Batley down. Rich Hornes post match interview was spot on. Worth a look. 

Wore us down? We could be still playing now and we still wouldn’t score with one half back 

donny were good today 

[JonM]

3 hours ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

 Oh, and I wouldn't say no to Jake Maizen at Widnes.

I was thinking he hadn't particularly stood out for Halifax against us last year, but I suppose we won the home game very easily and I think he didn't play in the return game at the Shay. Funny that Haven have so many overseas players - don't tend to get that outside of SL these days.

[Rene_Artois]

17 minutes ago, Keep The Faith said:

Wore us down? We could be still playing now and we still wouldn’t score with one half back 

donny were good today 

What I'm implying is Batley were excellent going forward for the 1st 15 minutes. I was genuinely worried at that point. Ran out of steam whilst Dons seemed to maintain momentum.

[Rene_Artois]

31 minutes ago, JonM said:

I was thinking he hadn't particularly stood out for Halifax against us last year, but I suppose we won the home game very easily and I think he didn't play in the return game at the Shay. Funny that Haven have so many overseas players - don't tend to get that outside of SL these days.

Check Donny's overseas lads. Can thank Carl Hall for that. Signed 3 players from the other nations side from when he was team manager. Matagi, Pauli and Lovodua. Worth his weight in gold is Hally.

Add our 2 PNG lads, Boas and Tali plus Hepi and Taulapapa and I reckon that must be a record lol

Add Kenga as Congolese as a tie breaker

Edited May 19, 2024 by Rene_Artois

[sentoffagain2]

1 hour ago, Rene_Artois said:

We've got better week on week since the Fev thrashing. Today was a really solid performance. Everyone just did their job effectively. I think we're adjusting pretty well to this level. Good performances today from some ex Fev lads. Ferres, Briscoe and most notably Boas. To be fair though Watson is a lot more Donny than Fev!

   Yes when at Fev he brought a different dimension to the #### half role.After seeing Don and Derek Fox Steve Nash and Liam Finn Watson  was a real eye opener.But i am glad he settled at Donny and is contributing to the team fair play to him.

[Rene_Artois]

6 minutes ago, sentoffagain2 said:

   Yes when at Fev he brought a different dimension to the #### half role.After seeing Don and Derek Fox Steve Nash and Liam Finn Watson  was a real eye opener.But i am glad he settled at Donny and is contributing to the team fair play to him.

He's not an organiser like Fox, Nash or Finn. He can create a bit of chaos when needed. His support play is top notch. Showed that when he beat GB. 

At a higher level he could be considered a luxury. For us he's a match winner 

Edited May 19, 2024 by Rene_Artois

[The Blues Ox]

3 hours ago, Rene_Artois said:

Do you think Dons can get a result next week?

You should win comfortably. I believe Fax lost 2/3 more players to injury today and after only having 18 fit players for today's game you have to question if they can even raise a full team next week.

[north yorks trinity]

3 hours ago, Expatknight said:

 Only downside was Lineham looks like he has picked up a bicep injury.

and that's a downside why???

[north yorks trinity]

Well played to Swinton today, caused Wakey all sorts of problems. They came with a great attitude and well thought out game plan. In the end they were out muscled but not out skilled.

[Mumby Magic]

14 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

You should win comfortably. I believe Fax lost 2/3 more players to injury today and after only having 18 fit players for today's game you have to question if they can even raise a full team next week.

Finished mid table on my predictions did Donny. Decent balanced squad.

[Rene_Artois]

51 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

You should win comfortably. I believe Fax lost 2/3 more players to injury today and after only having 18 fit players for today's game you have to question if they can even raise a full team next week.

I'm sure Fax will be fine. This won't have been one we'd pencilled in to survive. Not expecting a win.

[Expatknight]

2 hours ago, north yorks trinity said:

and that's a downside why???

If only for the fact we can’t afford any more players on the treatment table, at the moment there are nearly as many unfit as fit. To be fair to him he ran well today until he came off.

[oiseau]

14 hours ago, kiggy said:

I'm not sure TO were that hopeless, I think Barrow were very good.for the 30mins. Once Lambert came back and they got that try, Barrow imploded a bit and gave the game to TO. Kicking out on the full twice on the restart gave TO too much advantage. 3 quick tries and there wasn't going to be anything other than a TO win. Jake had a good game too, nice to see some smiling banter with the Barrow faithful when they were giving him some helpful "advise" when he was kicking from the touch line. Good to see.

I expected Sita to be back as we bumped into him last week at Pont d'Espagne of all places and he said he was going to be OK. Maybe another week and he will be up and firing for Widnes next week. 

The longer term injuries include both Bretherton and Richards, two important players when fit. Fortunately Peyroux put in another great shift. Most people , including the players and coaching staff know this is a weak squad compared to say, last season. Top four would be a decent acheivement imho.

[kiggy]

3 hours ago, oiseau said:

The longer term injuries include both Bretherton and Richards, two important players when fit. Fortunately Peyroux put in another great shift. Most people , including the players and coaching staff know this is a weak squad compared to say, last season. Top four would be a decent acheivement imho.

I spoke to Greg, he has his boot off now and says it could be 5 weeks before he is back. I didn't get a chance to speak to Joe, hopefully Sita will be back next week. Maybe Ben and guy as well. I won't be at the Widnes match but I hope to watch it on the TV.

Top 4 maybe, I am bit disappointed that the new president hasn't really spent anything yet.

[The Blues Ox]

11 hours ago, Mumby Magic said:

Finished mid table on my predictions did Donny. Decent balanced squad.

Yeah thought the same, didn't think they had enough for the playoffs but also didn't see them been in a relegation battle. That said what do I know, I didn't have Fax down as the worst team in the league at this stage either. 

[Spidey]

I still wouldn't be surprised if Widnes ended up in a relegation battle TBH

Although (barring Wakefield) this is a competitive Championship, it certainly isn't due to an increase in standards, less funding to the top sides has evened things out a bit, quality isn't there anymore but at least there's a few more shocks on the cards and closer games

 

Edited May 20, 2024 by Spidey