Fri 1st-Sun 3rd Aug: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[League Express]

Fri 1st-Sun 3rd Aug: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

Discuss the games here.

Please don't accuse match officials of deliberate bias or cheating, or your posts will be removed and your account may be banned without further warning.

FRIDAY 1st AUGUST
Bradford Bulls v Halifax Panthers KO 19:45

SUNDAY 3rd AUGUST
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00
Doncaster v Hunslet KO 15:00
London Broncos v Barrow Raiders KO 15:00
Sheffield Eagles v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00
York Knights v Oldham KO 15:00
 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Bradford, Fev., Donny, London, Widnes, York.

[Widiot]

FRIDAY 1st AUGUST
Bradford Bulls v Halifax Panthers KO 19:45

SUNDAY 3rd AUGUST
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00
Doncaster v Hunslet KO 15:00
London Broncos v Barrow Raiders KO 15:00
Sheffield Eagles v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00
York Knights v Oldham KO 15:00

[Expatknight]

37 minutes ago, Widiot said:

FRIDAY 1st AUGUST
Bradford Bulls v Halifax Panthers KO 19:45

SUNDAY 3rd AUGUST
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00
Doncaster v Hunslet KO 15:00
London Broncos v Barrow Raiders KO 15:00
Sheffield Eagles v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00
York Knights v Oldham KO 15:00

Yet another cracking set of fixtures, some tough games there and at this stage of the season difficult to call. It is such a shame the wider public don’t get to see this competition and all the emphasis is on Super League.

The Bulls V Panthers is a funny one, both at home , anyway I think the Bulls might just be a bit too strong for Fax especially at Odslum.

Batley V Fev, again a hard one depending on which Fev team turns up, but I will go with them this week, just.

Doncaster will be way to strong for Hunslet might be close for first half but then Dons all the way.

London coming into a bit of form against a good well coached Barrow side will be close but I think home advantage will sway the day.

Widnes will be too strong for the Eagles but it won’t be easy.

Knights v Oldham potentially the tie of the round, I would hope with the momentum being with the Knights they might just sneak past an excellent Oldham side especially if Hingano is back and on song.

Edited July 31, 2025 by Expatknight

[Vyvyan]

Fax

Fev

Donny

Barrow 

Widnes 

York

 

[Barley Mow]

Bradford Bulls v Halifax Panthers by 8
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers by 14
Doncaster v Hunslet by 7
London Broncos v Barrow Raiders by 12 
Sheffield Eagles v Widnes Vikings by 14 
York Knights v Oldham by 2

[sheddingswasus]

I think people are underestimating Oldham. They played Hunslet last week without 8 or 9 players who if fit or available would have been in the team.

A couple may be back in this week but by the time the playoffs come around there will be a very strong squad.

Given injuries are biting at York after a long relatively injury free run Sunday will be a tight game between two good teams.

FRIDAY 1st AUGUST
Bradford Bulls v Halifax Panthers KO 19:45 draw

SUNDAY 3rd AUGUST
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00 Fev 
Doncaster v Hunslet KO 15:00. Doncaster 
London Broncos v Barrow Raiders KO 15:00. Barrow 
Sheffield Eagles v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00 Sheffield 
York Knights v Oldham KO 15:00 to close to call 

[Jemmo]

6 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

I think people are underestimating Oldham. They played Hunslet last week without 8 or 9 players who if fit or available would have been in the team.

A couple may be back in this week but by the time the playoffs come around there will be a very strong squad.

Given injuries are biting at York after a long relatively injury free run Sunday will be a tight game between two good teams.

 

FRIDAY 1st AUGUST
Bradford Bulls v Halifax Panthers KO 19:45 draw

SUNDAY 3rd AUGUST
Batley Bulldogs v Featherstone Rovers KO 15:00 Fev 
Doncaster v Hunslet KO 15:00. Doncaster 
London Broncos v Barrow Raiders KO 15:00. Barrow 
Sheffield Eagles v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00 Sheffield 
York Knights v Oldham KO 15:00 to close to call 

A lot of the teams are missing several players at the moment, success in this division often comes down to who manages to get most players back first and not having the worst injury crisis at the wrong time

[Simon Hall]

3 hours ago, sheddingswasus said:

Given injuries are biting at York

Yeah, we’re down to our last 27 fit players. 

[gogledd]

Wins for Fax, Fev, Donny, Raiders, Vikings and Knights

[Tafkat]

3 hours ago, Simon Hall said:

Yeah, we’re down to our last 27 fit players. 

And not a loan player in sight 

[sheddingswasus]

4 hours ago, Tafkat said:

And not a loan player in sight 

I meant with key players. 

[Expatknight]

6 hours ago, sheddingswasus said:

I meant with key players. 

Losing Harris is a big blow plus Cook, who could have easily slotted in , but like other clubs you have to play the cards you are dealt. Fortunately we have a couple of utility players chomping at the bit to get a game and hopefully Hingano will be back so not all doom and gloom. Just really unfortunate for Liam as he is the captain and this season has been playing out of his skin, as shown by the amount of tries, goals and total points scored. It is now up to the other players, the ones who will now be given a chance, to show what they can do. This squad is such a tight group I am sure they will deliver.

[Bull Mania]

2 hours ago, Expatknight said:

Losing Harris is a big blow plus Cook, who could have easily slotted in , but like other clubs you have to play the cards you are dealt. Fortunately we have a couple of utility players chomping at the bit to get a game and hopefully Hingano will be back so not all doom and gloom. Just really unfortunate for Liam as he is the captain and this season has been playing out of his skin, as shown by the amount of tries, goals and total points scored. It is now up to the other players, the ones who will now be given a chance, to show what they can do. This squad is such a tight group I am sure they will deliver.

Harris has been the player of the year for me. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

9 minutes ago, Bull Mania said:

Harris has been the player of the year for me. 

He's been terrific, but in my opinion he's the second best player on his team.

[gavin7094]

All away wins.

[m brooksy]

8 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

He's been terrific, but in my opinion he's the second best player on his team.

Guessing Thompson as no.1? Unbelievable player. He'd be my top player in the League in your other thread.

Worried about this game as an Oldham fan. We've been poor to very average since our mini summer break and our performances in the big games have been extremely poor aside from surprisingly the reverse York fixture. Hope we play well but can't see us winning.

[RBKnight]

Seems as if there's an informal Travellers' Fair at Odsal Top tonight. This is what Super League needs  

 

[RBKnight]

Mind you, they could be just Nobby's latest loan signings in that paddock on the right 

[Fevrover]

9 hours ago, gavin7094 said:

All away wins.

First one wrong . 

[DoubleD]

11 hours ago, Bull Mania said:

Harris has been the player of the year for me. 

Has he learnt how to tackle yet?

[gavin7094]

1 hour ago, Fevrover said:

First one wrong . 

No, not at all.

Both Bradford and Halifax were at 'home'.  Therefore, if both teams are at home, then it stands to reason that both teams' opponents must have been the away team.  So the away team won.

Either that, or neither team was the away team, in which case an away win was impossible and my prediction is therefore nullified.

That having been demonstrated, I'm off to feed Schrodinger's cat.

[gavin7094]

47 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Has he learnt how to tackle yet?

Not sure they employ him specifically to do that but yes, he can bring down much bigger opponents very effectively.

[sheddingswasus]

There are excuses about the travellers fair, but when we played Bradford two weeks back it took 40 minutes to get in and over an hour to get out. We had prebooked too. It was not much better at the Halifax game we played there  either. 

[Curly perm]

Come on, there’s always the risk of delays when using club car parks, wherever you go. Bradford is a big, busy city. I parked nearby on-street and didn’t have a problem but have used Just Park in the past (inc for Old Trafford).

I went to the Bradford game with my lads last night - 4,500 there and was impressed with the pre-match and the atmosphere created. Yes, Odsal needs a lot of work but if I’m honest I enjoyed being there and how different it is to all other RL grounds. I’ve said it before on here, but there’s a lot of good stuff going on at Bradford and some good people, especially on the youth side.