T’Other Side: Batley Bulldogs

T’Other Side: Batley Bulldogs

Head Coach: Matt Diskin

Matt Diskin was took over as head coach of the Bulldogs for this season, following in the footsteps of John Kear who had held the post for 5 years. He has a difficult standard to match after Kear took Batley into the Qualifiers last year. It is Diskin’s first post as a head coach although he did take charge briefly of Bradford Bulls in a caretaker capacity in 2014 between the sacking of Francis Cummins and the appointment of James Lowes.

As a player he was a renowned hooker starting his career in 2001 with Leeds Rhinos. He stayed with the Rhinos for ten seasons making 264 appearances. In 2011 he moved to Bradford Bulls making 86 appearances before retiring at the end of 2014. He also played Great Britain, England, England A and Yorkshire.

Captain: Dominic Brambani

Dominic Brambani is now in his 14th year as a professional rugby league player. His career started at Castleford in 2004 and has subsequently signed for Halifax, Sheffield (two spells) and Dewsbury, before moving to Batley last year. That looks like an entire career with Yorkshire clubs but in 2009 he spent a season playing for Hinterland Storm in Queensland. He is a goal kicker but has rarely been first choice. However, in 2013 he kicked 168 goals for Sheffield. In 2003 Brambani captained the Great Britain Student team on a tour of Australia.

In the backs

Wayne Reittie is one of many rugby league players who emerged from South Leeds High School (others include Chev Walker, Karl Pratt, Paul McShane and Jason Walton). With 11 tries so far this season, Wayne is Batley’s leading try scorer. He is a Jamaican international. Dave Scott is the regular Batley fullback. He was born in Stirling and began playing rugby league for Easterhouse Panthers in Glasgow at the age of 12. Hull Kingston Rovers brought him to England to join their academy. He played for Fev and Doncaster before joining Batley in last year. He is a Scottish international. Sam Smeaton is a product of Featherstone Lions and was a regular at Rovers until he suffered a long-term injury at the end of the 2012 season which caused him to miss the whole of the 2013 season and almost of the following year too. In 2015 he joined Sheffield and last year he played for Halifax and York before joining Batley in late July.

In the halves

The most common half back pairing for Batley this year has been captain, Dom Brambani with Cain Southernwood, the latter usually playing stand-off. Southernwood started with Bradford in 2010 and has played for Dewsbury and Whitehaven before coming to Batley in 2015. Pat (Patch) Walker plays at stand-off whenever required but is usually in the team anyway being used at loose forward or even hooker. He is the top goal kicker but all three halves are employed as goal kickers.

In the pack

Alistair Leak is a livewire hooker who has often impressed in matches against Rovers. He is a one-club player having started with Batley in 2013. Prop forward, Tom Lillycrop, is one of those players who puts in a huge amount of work in every game he plays and has become an major part of the Batley pack this year with 20 appearances (9 off the bench). He is in his third season at Batley after starting at Dewsbury followed by a year at Sheffield. The most high profile signing for Batley in 2017 has to be Dane Manning, a powerful and skilful second rower who signed from Halifax. He is a product of the Leeds Rhinos Academy and he previously played for Batley in 2011 before having five years at Halifax.

The Fev connection

There are four players in the Batley squad who have played for Featherstone. You have to have a good memory to recall Dominic Brambani playing in a Fev team because it was 12 years go in 2005 when he had a seven game loan spell with us from Castleford.

Dane Manning, who we have already mentioned above, played 23 games for Fev on loan from Leeds in 2010. Dave Scott is a regular Scottish international (and a genuine one, complete with Scottish accent!) He started his international career back in 2011 whilst a junior at Hull KR. Rovers signed him in 2013 but he only played one first team game before going on loan to Doncaster, where he stayed for a further two seasons before signing for Batley.

Sam Smeaton came through the ranks at Featherstone Lions before Rovers signed him in 2009 and he was a regular in the team before a horrific injury caused him to miss the whole of the 2013 season and he only came back for 2 games at the end of 2014. He moved on to Sheffield in 2015 and Halifax in 2016 where he went out on loan to York and then signed for Batley in July. Sam played 84 games for Rovers scoring 41 tries.

There is one further player at Batley, but currently on loan to Oldham, with a Featherstone Rovers connection. Although he signed for Rovers last year, Brad Hill was a regular member of the Fev reserve team until its disbandment, but never played in the first team although he did appear in four out of the five pre-season games.

There are six players who have appeared for Fev this year who have previously played for Batley. They are Jason Walton, Chris Ulungia, John Davies, Matty Wildie, Frankie Mariano and Anthony Mullally.