T’Other Side: Batley Bulldogs

T’Other Side: Batley Bulldogs

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach Matt Diskin

Matt Diskin took over as head coach of the Bulldogs at the beginning of last season, following in the footsteps of John Kear who had held the post for 5 years. 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.

Co-Captains: Dominic Brambani and Pat Walker

Dominic Brambani is now in his 15th 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.

Pat Walker is now in his 3rd season with Batley. His career began with Dewsbury Rams in 2007. After six seasons at Dewbury, he spent three at Sheffield Eagles. He usually plays at either stand-off or loose forward and is a prolific goal kicker having passed 600 career goals last year.

New Signing

In July Batley signed Louis Jouffret from the Catalans reserve team (Saint-Estève). He was in the academy at Warrington in 2014 and 2015 and then played for Whitehaven in 2015 and 2016. Last year he played for Toulouse. He is a fullback or stand-off and played for the French U18 side back in 2013.

At the back

Winger, Shaun Ainscough, began his career with Wigan in 2009. The following year he had a loan spell at Castleford and played for Widnes on Dual-Reg. In 2011 he joined Bradford Bulls and then spent 2013 playing for South City Bulls in Australia. Returning the following season he joined Whitehaven and then moved to Batley in 2016. Lewis Galbraith (centre) joined Batley this year after three seasons at Rochdale. He is a former England Youth international. Dave Scott, began his professional career with Rovers in 2013 but only played one game. He then moved to Doncaster before joining Batley in 2016. He has played 11 matches for Scotland (one of the few who speaks with a genuine Scottish accent!). He is now well established as their first choice full-back and is their joint highest try-scorer in 2018 including two tries in the first 10 minutes against Fev in March.

In the halves

Batley’s principal halfbacks are Dominic Brambani and Pat Walker (see co-captains). In some recent game Brambani has started on the bench and the starting line-up has included Izaak Farrell who is a young, promising halfback on loan from Huddersfield

At hooker

The hooking position is usually shared by Alistair Leak and James Davey. Alistair Leak has played his whole career at Batley starting in 2013. He should never be under-estimated having an excellent reading of the game and an astute eye for potential openings. James Davey began with Wakefield in 2009. In 2012 he played for both Keighley and Sheffield on dual-registration and then joined Sheffield in 2013. He moved to Batley in 2016.

In the pack

Despite being a forward, Brad Day is Batley’s joint leading try scorer in 2018 with 10 tries. He mainly plays in the second row but at times during his career he has also played at centre and on one occasion last year he played at stand-off. Tall second rower (6’5”), James Harrison, is only 22 years old but seems destined for a stellar career. He was signed by Batley for the 2016 season having previously played for Bradford Bulls U19s. He has a good rugby league pedigree being the son of Karl Harrison and nephew of current Batley Chief Executive Paul Harrison. In 2016 he also played for Oxford on dual registration. Prop Forward, Alex Rowe, started with Castleford in 2005 and had a rather nomadic early career playing for Gateshead, Doncaster and Sheffield before settling down with Batley since signing in 2013. Although he has often been used as a sub in the past, this season he has more often been in the starting team.

Loan and Dual Registration players

Batley have a dual registration agreement with Hunslet resulting in Alex Bretherton, Joe Chandler and Danny Cowling having each played one or two games for them Batley’s only loan player is Izaak Farrell (see ‘In the halves’)

The Fev connection

There is a long history of players who have played for both Batley and Fev.

In the Batley squad there are five players who have played for Fev. Jason Crookes who had a loan spell with Fev from Hull FC in 2014. Tom Hemingway, who plays at either hooker or halfback, was a Fev player in 2011 although he only played three games. Although not the Bulldogs first choice kicker he is the joint holder of the world record for goals kicked in a match having kicked 22 out of 22 attempts for Blackpool Panthers in a 132-0 defeat of Gateshead Thunder in 2010. Dane Manning came to Fev on a season long loan from Leeds in 2010. Danny Maun is an assistant coach at Batley nowadays but he came out of retirement to make up the numbers in their away game in Toronto. He played for Fev 21 times in 2005 and scored 10 tries. Unlike the others, Sam Smeaton was a regular in the Fev team from 2009 to 2012 before suffering a serious long term injury. He played 88 times for Fev and scored 41 tries. Finally, Dominic Brambani (see above under 'Captain'), had a loan spell with Fev in 2005 when he was a Cas player.

There are five players who have played for Fev this year who have also been at Batley. John Davies was at Batley in 2013 and 2014, and Tom Holmes had an 8 match loan spell from Castleford with them last year. Chris Ulugia went to Batley on loan from Bradford in 2015 and spent the whole of 2016 with them on a season-long loan. Jason Walton was at Batley for four years from 2010 to 2013 and Matty Wildie had an 11 match loan period there from Wakefield in 2012.

As previously mentioned, Batley player, James Harrison, is the son of England and Great Britain international Karl Harrison who played for Fev from 1985 to 1989.