Bulldogs(H)

[Wandering pete]

Batley currently sit in 12 th place with 8 points from 3 wins /2 draws/9 defeats.After a promising start with a draw at Oldham and a win over Widnes at Mt.Pleasant the next 11 games saw just one win (at London) and a home draw with the Raiders.A winless sequence of 8 games led to a change of coach and was ended by a home victory over the Eagles last time out bringing an instant return for the evergreen  John Kear...surely the RL equivalent of Neil Warnock.So its been a (Bull)dogs breakfast of a season so far but the Raiders should beware the  Kear factor with no doubt more injuries biting into their squad.

[2Cents]

Comfortable win - never felt we were going to loose. Shane Toal played a blinder and is a great stand-in for injured Ritson. Tom Walker was outstanding as per usual. On the down-side, too many knock-ons (ground was hard) and I thought young Broadbent tried to run the ball too many times by himself. Yes, we're 5th, but given our next 2 games are v York (A) and top of the table Toulouse, unless we play top of our game, we could slip out of the top 6.

[Bring back GB]

13 minutes ago, 2Cents said:

Comfortable win - never felt we were going to loose. Shane Toal played a blinder and is a great stand-in for injured Ritson. Tom Walker was outstanding as per usual. On the down-side, too many knock-ons (ground was hard) and I thought young Broadbent tried to run the ball too many times by himself. Yes, we're 5th, but given our next 2 games are v York (A) and top of the table Toulouse, unless we play top of our game, we could slip out of the top 6.

But a massive result regarding staying clear of the bottom 4 which is the main goal for us tbh.

[RSN]

49 minutes ago, Bring back GB said:

But a massive result regarding staying clear of the bottom 4 which is the main goal for us tbh.

Today's results means we aren't going to be in the bottom 4. We would have to lose all our games and London Sheffield or Batley win 5/8 which isn't going to happen. 

We have a tough 2 weeks but after that we will have played 4 out of the top 6 (excluding us) home and away. I genuinely think we can beat Toulouse at home. 

That leaves games against Widnes (H) Halifax (H) London (A) Sheffield (A) which we will be favourites and Oldham (A) and Doncaster (A) where we will be underdogs. 

Either way it's been a tremendous performance from the club. 

Edited July 13, 2025 by RSN

[2Cents]

We play 1st (A) 2nd and 4th (A) teams in the next 4 games. Might be looking at 3 losses....just saying....

[RSN]

1 hour ago, 2Cents said:

We play 1st (A) 2nd and 4th (A) teams in the next 4 games. Might be looking at 3 losses....just saying....

That will leave our last 4 games against the bottom 6. 

 In terms of our league results against the top 4 we have won 3 and lost 2 so we could easily pick up a few wins. 

Absolutely all to play for. 

[Ulverstonian]

Not there 2day due to holiday but great win. Great effort from everyone playing, both sides, in the heat.

As long as we not in bottom 4 job done. Although if the RFL change things again, as rumoured, does it matter ? 

[richie keay]

Great performance by everyone in very hot conditions, and a hard pitch the Shane Toal try was fantastic, he was brilliant today and thoroughly deserved  the Mom, and overall there was some fantastic rugby played out there. We should be safe now with regards to finishing outside the bottom 4, which should have been our mission at the start of the season.

Edited July 14, 2025 by richie keay

[richie keay]

15 minutes ago, richie keay said:

 

Got chatting to a lovely old Bulldogs fan, at the back of the main stand, who told me that he had to get pxxxed to watch Batley play this season, he also said that they are the only team that had never been relegated out of this division. That's  a very good achievement indeed.

Edited July 14, 2025 by richie keay

[richie keay]

12 hours ago, richie keay said:

 

 

Edited July 14, 2025 by richie keay
Not Req

[RogerT]

Well done Barrow you played the conditions perfectly, no grumbles about the result.

[Dave W]

14 hours ago, richie keay said:

Got chatting to a lovely old Bulldogs fan, at the back of the main stand, who told me that he had to get pxxxed to watch Batley play this season, he also said that they are the only team that had never been relegated out of this division. That's  a very good achievement indeed.

I suppose that depends where your start point is: They were a third tier club in 1997. 

Even if you're talking about the Championship as it is now, I don't think Widnes have been relegated to the third tier either. They've had a stint in SL when licensing was a thing but that's not the point.

Batley *can* claim to having been a consistent presence in the second tier for 27 years running, however, which is a pretty remarkable thing in itself.